The Choas of Us
by girlacrosstheway08
Summary: The story is just as the title says. Its comedy and romance all mixed into one. All characters are shown, btw I do not own any of the characters. I do however try to present them how I see them in the show. All ch Rated M for possiblities in later chapters. Pairings: Tezuka&OC, Fuji&OC, Ecizen&Momo, Kaidoh&Inui, Eiji&Oishi. This is an updated and revamped version.
1. Chapter One

Chapter One

The gently blowing winds lured students out of the main building into the courtyard during their lunch break for the day. Kasumi Tezuka sat next to Takeshi Momoshiro at one of stone tables since her best friend (Sakura Hinamori) and brother (Kunimitsu Tezuka) were gone for a tennis tournament. She was running her fingers through her long wavy strawberry blond hair, when her cell phone went off signaling that Sakura or Kunimitsu has sent her a text message. Takeshi gave her a strange look as she retrieved the cell phone out of her dark green skirt and read the text message to herself.  
"Hey Kasumi what did they want?" Takeshi asked when she quickly shut her phone, with a displeased look on her angelic face.  
"It's none of your business, Momo. My brother just requested something from me to do so I will be occupied during activity period." Kasumi replied in a short manner, showing that she was very irritated with her brother.  
"Touchy, touchy. If I had known it would piss you off that much I wouldn't have asked you about it. Besides why would your brother ask you to do something when you have to get this year's gymnastics stuff ready?" Takeshi questioned and slightly teasing her.  
"Don't you think if I had a team practice today he would have given me something to occupy my time during activity period?" Kasumi threatened as her hazel green eyes glared up at him through her glasses. It took several seconds for what she said to sink into his head.

"Oh, well I didn't realize that you had given your team the day off. What did he ask you to do this afternoon?" Momo asked. The school bell rang, before Kasumi could respond, signaling that lunch was over and the students to get to their next class. Takeshi and Kasumi grabbed their school messenger bags and headed back to the main building together. Kasumi was frustrated that Momo couldn't take a hint about not wanting to talk about what her brother assigned her to do. She had made it a personal resolve not to talk to him, much less let him know what Kunimitsu asked of her that was until Takeshi and a freshman collided with each other. Kasumi wouldn't have even noticed if Takeshi didn't grunt when the younger boy ran into him. She quickly glanced at the pair noting that they were both short, one had spiky black hair and the other had orange hair that sported a buzz cut.  
"Takeshi, it isn't nice to go running over freshman like that." Kasumi teased her classmate, laughter starting to form in her eyes. He gave her a look telling her that she could go straight to hell. She couldn't but to help but to giggle at his antics.  
"Since you're freshman I'll forgive you for this one. But you really should watch where you're going from now on." Takeshi said sternly as he tried not to let her laughter damage his ego too much. "I really don't like that look."  
Kasumi stopped her laughing to see what Takeshi was talking about and saw that the freshman, with black hair, was practically glaring at them.  
"You'll have to forgive him, he's taking his anger out on you since his ego took a major hit with me laughing at him. Now come on, Momo, we still have to get to our next class before activity schedule." She stated sweetly as she grabbed his arm and practically dragged him away from the freshman. The other students took noticed that Kasumi looked like she was dragging Takeshi like a girlfriend would be doing to her boyfriend. Rumors instantly began about the two with no evidence that the two were together. Kasumi didn't let it bother her, she knew that she wasn't Takeshi's type and she had her eyes set on a certain genius senpai on the tennis team. Takeshi wasn't sure yet how he felt about the instant rumors that were spreading around the school about them, knowing that the both of them were in the same class and eating lunch together would just be adding more fuel to the fire. A girl with long auburn pigtail braids and chocolate brown eyes ran up to them, Kasumi quickly concluded that this girl like the boys they had just run into was a freshman.  
"Um...excuse me. My grandmother requested that Momoshiro-senpai come by her office. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything; I can leave and tell my grandmother that you will be by later to see her, Momoshiro-senpai." The freshman girl was blushing like mad, as if she interrupted something majorly important.  
"Kasumi, let go of my hand, people are obviously getting the wrong idea about what is going on between the both of us. Besides it's completely embarrassing that you can easily drag me the way that you do." Takeshi almost yelled at Kasumi, in front of the timid freshman girl. Kasumi quickly turned to face Takeshi, her face was emotionless with a cocked brow.  
"You actually care what these people say? Here's a lesson, you really shouldn't listen to what they say. Besides we aren't each other types and I like someone else. You and I know what is really between us, so it doesn't matter what those other people say. You better go see what Coach Grandma wants, tell her that I say hello and I will probably try to come by for a few moments before I leave school for the evening." She said in a very cold calm manner. She hadn't even made it two steps into the main building when her phone went off again, it merely didn't go off after a quick ring that was used to signal a text but it kept on ringing signaling that someone was calling her. Kasumi quickly placed her phone between her shoulder and chin, while covering the phone with that thick strawberry blond hair of hers.  
"Kasumi Tezuka." She quietly answered the ringing cell phone, trying not to bring unwanted attention to herself from the teachers.  
"KASUMI-CHAN! What in the world has happened since I saw you this morning! I just received a text message on my phone saying that you and Momo-chan are going out?! I can't leave you to be by yourself can I, you'll always need Kunimitsu's and mine supervision!?" Sakura's voice carried over loudly through the ear piece, nearly making Kasumi drop her phone to get away from the loudness. She quickly pressed buttons on the side to lower the volume of Sakura's voice.  
"Sakura, take a few deep breathes, you of all people should know there is nothing going on between Momo and I. He likes dark haired people not blonds, which I might add my hair is pretty blond so I wouldn't be more than a friend to Momo. I'm doing just fine without you or my brother here thanks, just because people see me dragging him through the courtyard by the hand doesn't me the two of us are going out!" Kasumi tried to keep her voice at a whisper, but it was hard since everyone was now working her last nerves for the day.  
"Kasumi-chan, that's not nice how you're speaking to me. Your brother seems to agree on that you're speaking very rudely to me seeing that you're on speaker phone. Besides you didn't need to jump down my throat, you could have just calmly explained to me that nothing is going on between you and Momo. Then possibly ask us about how the matches are going." Sakura sniped the second year girl. Kasumi began biting the inside of her lower lip from yelling at Sakura. Sakura became curious that something had happened to Kasumi since the blonde took several moments to retort back to Sakura's sniping.  
"Kasumi-chan? Are you still there Kasumi-chan?! Do Mitsu and I need to send a search team to come find you?"  
"Yes, Hinamori-senpai, I'm still here. Please stop acting like I'm some helpless child please, that goes for you too Mitsu. Now, I really need to get to class, I'm sure everyone is doing fine and is winning all of their matches. But like I said I need to get to class. Love you both, and I will see you tonight with details on how both of your tennis practices went to day. Bye, and love." Kasumi quickly muttered trying to keep her temper in check along with also teasing Sakura by calling her Hinamori-senpai.  
"Have a good class, Kas., and I won't stop being an over protective brother. If I find out that you skipped out on what I told you to do, you'll have to run some laps in the morning. Love you little sister." Kunimitsu replied, trying to beat his girlfriend from replying first.  
"Love you too, Kasumi-chan. We'll see you back at the apartment and try to stop causing so many rumors going around about you. If no rumors are getting back to us then we wouldn't be worrying so much about you." Sakura also replied after Kunimitsu, which cause Kasumi to roll her eyes as she closed her phone and put it back into the pocket of her skirt.

Kasumi took a seat on the picnic tables outside the courts that the guys normally practiced on; she crossed her legs not expecting to see much from any of the players since the top people were gone today. She had decided earlier that she would stay for the first half of today's activity schedule watching the guys and then heading over to the girl's courts to watch them, taking notes on how people were behaving and those who were possibly ready to play in the ranking tournaments, that would be happening later on in the week once the Regular Eight Teams returned, as her brother requested from his text message during lunch. Four first year boys where crowded outside of the courts talking about how there was no practice today since the Top 8 were playing a different school today, and two second year guys were just around the corner listening to the hopeful first years hoping to scheme the first years out of some money. Seeing this made Kasumi slightly disgusted with some of the members of than tennis club, just because her older brother wasn't there didn't mean that the second years could act any way they wanted to towards the first years. She raised a questioning brow above the frame of her glasses wondering if the second years realized that she was sitting on the bench watching what was happening at the tennis courts this afternoon and would report information back to her older brother. Kasumi got up from her spot and made her way past the first years to the second years, they stared at her obliviously not recognizing her out of her leo and contacts.  
"Excuse me; you're not really planning on scamming money out of those first years are you?" She questioned softly using their stupidity on not realizing who she was against them.  
"Yeah, but if you were wanting to hang out with us so we can get to know each other better. Taking these freshmen's money should not take us that long, you could watch and then we could leave together." The one with long hair spoke.  
"I really don't think that is going to happen, my brother doesn't appreciate jerks that prey on freshmen to make themselves look better and the freshmen like fools. Though I must warn if you plan on going through with your little scam not only will Momoshiro and Coach Ryuuzaki will hear about this, but also so shall Kunimitsu." Kasumi hissed between clenched teeth, as she poked the long hair peer in the chest with her finger. Ever since what happened to her brother when he was in his first year of junior high with the senpais, it angered her that the senpais would pick on the first years and sometimes hurt them on "accident". The long haired second year swiped away her finger from his chest, he looked pretty angry that a girl was bossing him around.  
"Listen little girl, this is the guys tennis courts; if you're looking for the girls they are on the other side of the courtyard. You have no right to speak Captain Tezuka's first name so personally, you really should learn so respect for your elders, little girl." The other second year commented.  
"You think you're pretty tough little girl bossing around a pair of second year guys around huh? Then you're also brave enough to say our mighty captain's name so formally, you really need to learn a lesson on manners. My friend and I should teach you a lesson on these things, once we get back from taking these first years' money." The long hair second year made an attempt to grab her about the shoulder, which she easily dodged by doing a back handspring.  
"You really have no clue who I am? If you dare touch me, I will personally get you removed from this tennis club and the tennis association. Leave those freshmen alone also and then I won't have to carry out my threat of reporting you to Coach Ryuuzaki, Momoshiro, and Kunimitsu. You can ask Momo, I keep my threats if people don't do what I say. And stop calling me, little girl, I'm also a second year." Kasumi stated her voice as cold as ice.  
"Tezuka!" Coach Ryuuzaki's voice rang out from the building next to the tennis courts. The second year boys cowered, looking around terrified that the match with the other school had already ended and the Top 8 was back at the junior high ready for practice; Kasumi turned her head trying to find where the grandmother coach was calling her from.  
"I take that is my cue to leave the tennis courts, Coach Ryuuzaki must think that Momo can keep all of you guys in line like my brother does. Oh I forgot to tell you two my name, well its Kasumi Tezuka, meaning that Kunimitsu is my older brother.  
Now leave those freshmen alone like I warned because I don't need my older brother to get you kicked out of this club even if hazing is a part of the senpais' tradition, it does not happen at this club or my club got that?" Kasumi stated before taking off the other courts, where she was sure that she would be more welcomed to be there. She made it over to the female courts and saw that Arisa, a second year hopeful of the ranking tournament and Kasumi's classmate, had everyone that showed up at the tennis courts that afternoon practicing.

"Hey, Tezuka, I see that Hinamori-senpai sent you out here to spy on us. Since everyone is practicing would you like to rally with me, if we didn't have so many first years interested in the tennis club this year I would suggest that we play a singles match. But as you can see we are kind of pushing the limits of people practicing on this court. Maybe if the females are really good this year, we can get more than two courts." Arisa called out to Kasumi, when she noticed that Kasumi was watching what was going on behind the fence.  
"Sakura didn't send me out here to spy… she just wants to have a heads up on what she has to come back to tomorrow. A lot of first year interest will also help getting you guys some more courts, as long as that nasty coach of yours doesn't run everyone off. But anyways about your question, I would love to rally with you. Do you have a racket that I can borrow by chance?" Kasumi hastily replied excited that her brother wasn't here to scold her if she played a small bit of tennis.  
"Of course I have a spare racket, I had a feeling Hinamori-senpai would be sending you out here today. So, I grabbed the racket thinking ahead about you coming out here and laid it against the wall. Once you step onto the courts you should be able to see it." Arisa stated as she moved some first years over so they wouldn't be hit while she and Kasumi rallied against each other.  
"Ah, thanks for thinking about me. Even if it's just because you want me to give Sakura an excellent review over you so you can have a real good chance of making the Top 8 team this month. I hate to break the bad news to you Arisa, but I think those third years that she's already got lined up are going to be the Top 8, sorry. Though I'll still put in a good word about you to Sakura whenever I see her tonight, you never know maybe some of the third years have slacked off and you're skills now are able to beat theirs." Kasumi gleefully said as picked up Arisa's spare racket and made her way over to the space that Arisa had cleared. Arisa smiled at her friend's weird way of putting someone down and trying to cheer the person up in a single sentence.  
"Tezuka, you are really a strange person. I'm going to go ahead and serve first." Arisa said before tossing the ball up and sent it lofting towards Kasumi. It was an easy beginning that would let the two of them warm up. Kasumi returned the ball with a light backhand. Which was returned by Arisa with a forehand, which started a tendency between the two that gradually began to progress with speed and power as time passed. After a few minutes the two girls had warmed up enough that, they didn't need to worry about pulling a muscle. Trying to break the formation that had formed, Kasumi lobbed the ball high and it went of flying slightly crooked in the direction of where some of the first years squashed together as they also tried to rally. The lob threw Arisa off slightly; she quickly went after the ball. Arisa kept one eye on the ball, the other on the group of first years, she immediately stopped when she realized that she was about to run into the group.  
"HEY WATCH OUT! FLY BALL, DUCK!" Both Kasumi and Arisa yelled to the group of first years that were not paying attention to what they said. The ball bounced off a first year with a weird dyed red hairstyle in the head and then landed on the ground where it rolled to the fence. Kasumi was glad that she didn't hit the ball hard, but still felt bad that the ball hit somebody even if it was just an accident. Kasumi and Arisa made their way through the first year crowd trying to find the first year that Kasumi hit.

"UGH! WHO IN THE WORLD HIT ME IN THE HEAD!?" The first year yelled out into the group making it easier for Kasumi and Arisa to find her. It helped them find her too when all of the first years backed away from the girl that got hit.  
"I'm sorry, you getting hit was a complete accident. Neoko and I were rallying and we had created a pattern of backhands and forehands. Well I wanted to mix it up a little so I decided to lob my last shot, sadly my technique for the lob was horrible and it went off till it hit you in the head. Once again I'm really sorry that you got hit." Kasumi started rambling off trying to apologize in a sincere manner.  
"No you're not sorry, you're probably happy that you hit me! I've only been on the courts for twenty minutes and the senpais are already out to get me because they realize me skills are far superior to their own." The first year yelled out into the crowd, facing off to Kasumi. Kasumi fully took the first year in noticing first off that the girl was several inches taller than herself, the girl had blue eyes that played slightly with the girl's hairdo.  
"No, no it's nothing like that, it truly was an accident. Like I said Neoko and I were rallying and I hit a bad lob. I don't believe in hazing first years, truly I don't" Kasumi said trying to defend herself, thinking to herself maybe she should have ignored her brother's and Sakura's request to check-up on their tennis clubs.  
"What's your name? I want your name! I want to report you for abuse of a first year!" The first year girl went rambling off, trying to draw as much attention as she could to herself. Kasumi bit the inside of her bottom lip, she was trying to be nice and apologize but this girl wasn't going to hear it. Arisa was shocked that Kasumi wasn't being more like her brother in the situation and was going to step in at any second if Kasumi didn't stand up and put the first year in her place.  
"I didn't hit the ball hard, you don't seem to hurt because you're acting the way you are, so there is no abuse. I don't participate in hazing freshman." Kasumi shouted at the first year, irritation finally getting to her.  
"You want to bet, where I come from it doesn't matter how hard you hit someone, you're in trouble." The first year shouted back, not wanting to back down to someone who looked like a first year herself.  
"Listen, freshman, Tezuka said she was sorry. If you really want to create a report against her, you talk to Captain Hinamori-senpai, but I doubt she'll really pay attention to what you say when you bring up Tezuka. You could even go to the guys' captain, Tezuka-senpai, but he probably won't listen to you either seeing that Tezuka will probably explain to the both of them later tonight of the accident and apologize profusely for it too. What's your name actually so that way, you and Tezuka can have a meeting with Hinamori-senpai and she can hear both sides of the story at the same time. Besides if Tezuka really wanted you hurt she wouldn't have done such a crappy lob, she would have actually taken me serious when we were rallying and the ball would have never hit you." Arisa torn in the first year, when the first year retorted back to Kasumi in the manner of threaten to fill charges against Kasumi.

"I really don't care if she is the club captain's little sister or best friend. NO ONE I MEAN NO ONE gets away from hitting me, Nikki Olsen. There should be no hazing in any club especially if it comes from a late senpai." Nikki rambled off towards Arisa now.  
"Tezuka, isn't a part of this club. She's the captain of the female gymnastics club; she only came out here today because Hinamori-senpai wanted to keep an eye out on the club to make sure nothing like this happened today!" Arisa snapped.  
"Both of you shut up and let me speak! Listen Olsen, I'm really sorry that you got hit in the head with a fly ball! Neoko and I both tried warning everybody by telling everyone there is a fly ball and to duck! It is not hers' or mine's fault that you got hit in the head by the ball because you weren't listening! I didn't even hit the lob hard, I was still slightly warming up when I hit the lob, so I know you weren't hit hard! So that means you can stop about all you're complaining about abuse to a first year! I'm restating this for the last time I do not participate in hazing of anyone; first years, new club member, no one! I've learned from experience that no good can really come from it! Practice is over, everyone off the courts until tomorrow, when I say everyone, I mean everyone!" Kasumi tore into the first, finally losing the control over her temper. Arisa stared at her, mouth wide open because Kasumi actually yelled. Kasumi didn't wait for anyone's response as she turned on her heel and walked off the courts, placing Arisa's spare racket on fence, heading towards her home. She didn't pay attention to all of the people that she passed, they seemed terrified of her. They had never seen a Tezuka lose their control and start shouting the way that Kasumi just did.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The chatter of students filled the courtyard during the lunch hour, the sun made it enjoyable to be outside instead of the dreadful indoors. Sakura Hinamori sat next to her boyfriend, Kunimitsu Tezuka, on one of the picnic tables next to the tennis courts. The couple was surrounded by the Top 8 Guys team, and some of the freshman that had joined the club the previous day full of questions. Sakura wished that Kasumi was going to be there, but unfortunately Kasumi was getting weighed during lunch, making Sakura the only girl at the table surrounded by a whole lot of guys. She was toying with the rice in the Benito box that Kasumi made for her and Kunimitsu when Arisa walks up to the table, The conversation at the table ceases and everyone's attention focuses on Arisa.  
"Excuse me, Hinamori-senpai; can I please have a private word with you?" Arisa asked of her captain, in a hushed tone and a blush burning her cheeks. Sakura felt bad for all of the girls that always came up to the table to talk to someone, they were always blushing because they knew the chatter at the table would stop and everybody would be listening in to the conversation.  
"Sure, Neoko-chan. Where would you like to have this private word with me at?" Sakura questioned as she pulled red and brown strands of hair out of her face, revealing that her blue-gray-green hazel eyes weren't staring coldly down at Arisa but were shimmering. When Arisa went up to Sakura she hadn't thought this far ahead, she actually thought that Sakura might even reject the idea of having a conversation with her, so she didn't know where she should suggest where they should go talk.  
"Let's give these ladies some room to speak and go practice." Kunimitsu stated, noticing that the second year had no clue where she wanted to speak to Sakura at. He actually figured it would be easier for all the guys to get up and goes practice tennis then making the girls find a different place to talk about whatever Arisa needed to talk to Sakura privately about. Kunimitsu was the first to stand, followed by the Golden Pair, then Syusuke Fuji and Takashi Kawamura, and then by Takeshi and Kaoru Kaidoh, the last to stand was Sadaharu Inui. The small group headed towards the tennis hut to grab rackets and balls to rally with as the end of lunch passed. Sakura gestured for Arisa to seat at the picnic table once all the guys had gotten up and left.  
"Now what were you wanting to talk to me about that you couldn't say in front of those guys?" Sakura inquired.  
"It's not that I couldn't say what I need to say in front of them. It's just that I want to talk to you about a female tennis club thing and the guys don't really need to be a part of it. Plus, I didn't want to get Tezuka in trouble with Tezuka-senpai." Arisa began before Sakura cut in.  
"Ah, you wanted to talk to me about Kasumi accidentally hitting that first year that completely over reacted? Kasumi explained everything last night to Kunimitsu and I, so there is really no point on you telling me what happened yesterday afternoon." Sakura stated bluntly.  
"Well you see… I was hoping that you would schedule a meeting between the two so things could be settled and there would not be any more conflicts between the two of them. Also I wanted to tell you that I know Kasumi isn't allowed to play tennis on her brother's order here at Siegaku, but I was the one that tempted her to come into the tennis courts and rally with me." Arisa stated, Kasumi and she weren't real close friends but Arisa thought they were close enough where they would stand up for each other.  
"If Kasumi did every little thing that her brother told her to do, she would never leave her house. So don't worry about it she didn't get in trouble for rallying with you yesterday, Kunimitsu will sometimes have Kasumi warm up the guys during tournaments. So she didn't get into trouble over just a simple rally with you, she only gets in trouble if she is skipping practice to mess around on the tennis courts. Since she was told to watch over the teams, she was allowed to rally or play anyone on the courts yesterday." Sakura clarified Kasumi's restriction at the tennis courts to Arisa.  
"Oh, ok I think I understand now. But back to the real reason why I came to speak with you, Hinamori-senpai, do you think you will be able to have a conference between that first year Olsen and Tezuka?" Arisa questioned trying to put her worrying mind at ease.  
"Yeah, I can do that if it will help settle things. Truthfully I wouldn't mind hazing the first year like the other senpais but Kunimitsu and I made a deal that we wouldn't take part of hazing anyone especially the first years. I'll text Kasumi here in a minute and tell her to meet me at the female courts before Olsen and I change for practice. I'll also grab Olsen before she makes it to the tennis hut that way we can talk about what happened yesterday, and hopefully get things resolved. I would really hate to have tension between the gymnastics team and us." Sakura said a smile forming on her lips; she was taking mental notes about Arisa. She had concluded in these few minutes of talking with the second year, that the second year reminded her lot of Oishi. With Arisa reminding her of Oishi, Sakura decided that if she didn't have a third year as her vice captain and if Arisa made the Top 8 Sakura wouldn't mind having Arisa as her vice captain.  
"Thank you Hinamori-senpai, I really appreciate what you are doing. I guess I better be heading to class now, I'm thankful that you took the time to talk to me. I will see you at practice then." Arisa stammered, slightly taken about how at ease Sakura was talking with her. Sakura looked at the clock on the tower and saw that the bell rang for classes to begin a few minutes before.  
"Yes, I will see you in practice and we both hurry and make it to class in time. Neoko-chan, you're a good person and I wish you well when you play in the ranking tournament tomorrow." Sakura said as she rose from the picnic table, letting Arisa in on something that she wasn't supposed to find out till tomorrow.

"Oh I have one more question to ask you, Hinamori-senpai. Is the rumor true that Tezuka and Momoshiro are going out?" Arisa questioned interested since she heard the rumors about her year mates since the previous day. Sakura busted out laughing surprised that anyone would actually believe that Kasumi and Takeshi would be dating. Arisa took Sakura's hysterical laughter as a no which she was glad to hear that because Kasumi and Takeshi in her mind made an awful couple there would be too much fighting. Arisa began her way towards the courtyard to meet up with all of her second year friends before heading towards class, leaving Sakura alone to make it to her own class. She slowly climbed up to the third story of the school; she would have just flown up the stairs if it wasn't packed with all the students trying to get back to their classes. It took her a few minutes to realize that Kasumi was the person that was just right in front of her. She wanted to say hi to Kasumi when she realized this, but Kasumi had already exited the flight of stairs and was heading towards her own class. When Sakura entered her classroom Kunimitsu was already sitting in his seat (that was right next to hers) waiting for her to return from talking to Arisa. She smiled at him before taking her seat, the teacher hadn't returned from his lunch yet so it allowed the students to talk for a little longer.  
"Did you miss me, Mitsu?" Sakura question and teased her boyfriend, of so many years, at the same time.  
"If you must know I did not have the complete lunch period with you. What did that second year want to talk to you about?" Kunimitsu replied not letting the teasing that Sakura was giving him affect him.  
"She wanted to explain the reason why Kasumi was on the tennis courts yesterday playing instead of just watching the girls practice. Also she wanted to know if I could set up a conference between Kasumi and that first year that got hit yesterday. Which reminds me; do you mind texting Kasumi and tell her that I want to see her at the tennis courts before she goes to gymnastics?" Sakura gave a brief shortened explanation of the conversation she had with the second year.  
"I can and will do that for you. Truthfully I'm surprised on how much drama is going on because of this. I was passing a group of first years and I'm guessing the one that Kasumi accidentally hit yesterday was in the center telling the group about how this mean jealous senpai got pissed that she was doing better at tennis then the senpai. So the senpai sent a ball hurling towards her, hitting her in the head pretty hard and probably gave her a concussion. To say the least it was a very interesting tale because that doesn't sound at all like our Kasumi." Kunimitsu stated, informing Sakura that yesterday's event was becoming a quickly spread rumor.  
"That's just wonderful; I have a dreadful first year causing problems with my best friend over a small accident. And you're correct the senpai in that story doesn't sound like Kasumi at all, ever since what happened to you during our first year Kasumi sworn never to participate in hazing anyone especially the first years."  
"Are you calling my little sister a lair?" A voice questioned. The couple turns towards the voice at the front of the classroom. It was the new transfer student from America; he had short dyed royal blue hair and matching blue eyes. Kunimitsu raised a questioning brow above his glasses, while Sakura just stared at him as if she couldn't believe that he had just butted into hers and Kunimitsu's conversation. "Didn't you just hear me? Are you calling my little sister a lair?" he repeated.  
"We don't even know who you are, much less who your sister is." Sakura smarted back to him, not caring for his attitude.  
"The name's Spike Olsen and my little sister is Nikki Olsen. You know the first year that got hit yesterday by that jealous senpai. Personally I think my sister is taking it too little with the name just calling the girl a jealous senpai, I think the girl is a bitch quite truthfully." He responded as he drew nearer towards the couple. Sakura wanted to lunge at the guy, but Kunimitsu stopped her with a glare of telling her to calm down for now.

"Ah that's an interesting point of view you have, because most people consider the person you call a bitch a very sweet shy person." Kunimitsu stated, a tint of ice slathered his words.  
"I've been told by very many eye witnesses that the girl warned everybody by calling fly ball and to duck. It's not the girl's fault that your little sister got hurt; maybe your sister should listen better." Sakura snarled, she hated when people questioned her.  
"From what I heard just a little bit ago, you sound like you're very close to the person that hit Nikki yesterday, making it sound like that you're siding with that girl just because she is possibly close to y'all. Therefore you're already bias against Nikki, when she is telling the truth and the bitch isn't. And it's just making the both of you look like sniveling idiots standing up for the bitch." Spike spoke striking nerves in Sakura and Kunimitsu.  
"I'm not bias you jerk, as captain of the female's tennis club I cannot be bias against the participants of the club! Don't you dare call him and I bias because not everyone is siding with your little sister! As captain of the female tennis team I have a duty to make sure everyone is treated FAIRLY and if there is any problem I am the one to take care of it and I will do it FAIRLY." Sakura shouted at him as she leaped from her seat, she made sure she emphasized the part about being fair.  
"Stop calling my little sister a bitch, you'll wind up regretting it if you don't. Kasumi wouldn't purposely injure anybody; even if it's just a soft hit she will come up to the person and apologize. My little sister doesn't lie, especially not about hitting someone. Her hitting your little sister was one of the first things out of her mouth confessing that she was rallying with a club member when she hit a bad lob. The ball accidentally hit your sister, which my sister ran over and began to apologize for what had happened. Your sister is the one over exaggerating this whole thing, trying to turn a lot of people against someone that most people think is very sweet." Kunimitsu hissed, sticking up for his little sister. Spike stepped towards Sakura trying to strike some fear into her by towering over her.  
"Listen and listen to me good, Nikki doesn't lie to me either and I saw the bump on the back of her head from where the ball hit her. That bitch caused that bump because she got caught up in a fit of jealously because someone was better than her." Spike spoke the spit flinging onto Sakura.  
"Listen to this Kasumi doesn't get jealous because people are better than her; she doesn't get caught up in jealous fits and starts attacking people." Sakura stared up at him; he was only an inch taller then she, debating whether or not she should just sucker punch him right in the nose. As if Kunimitsu was able to read her mind, he grabbed her arm and held onto it tight making sure she didn't do anything to physically harm the transfer student.  
"I'm going to handle this Sakura." Kunimitsu said such a stern manner, even more stern than usual, as he stood up from his desk and closed the space between him and Spike.  
"Oh, you're going to get it now." Sakura stated in a very serious tone.  
"I really don't like how you are talking to my girlfriend or how you are talking about my little sister. I believe I actually told you not to call my sister a bitch anymore, did you think that I wouldn't hold true to my word?" Kunimitsu spoke, his eyes glaring down at Spike, as he towered over Spike by several inches. With Kunimitsu that close, Spike was slightly terrified that Kunimitsu might actually hit him physically. Spike turned on his heel mutter something about this wasn't over yet.

Sakura was making her way through the courtyard to the tennis courts; she was still fired up about what had happened in class after lunch. She wanted to take some of the frustration she had out on the freshman but knew that would not accomplish anything, expect for maybe freshman's older brother trying to attack her and at the moment it sounded really good to her. Students waved as Sakura passed them, even though she didn't want to admit it she really was the queen bee of Siegaku Junior High School. When there was movement beside her, she instantly knew that someone wanted to talk to her.  
"What do you want?" Sakura growled, her mind still concentrating on the transfer student in her class. She really didn't feel like being around to people, she know if she didn't hurt want to hurt people she needed to get to the tennis courts so she could hit.  
"Whoa someone has pissed you off, Hinamori." The person spoke beside her in a cheery tone that could only belong to Syusuke Fuji. She turned her head to see if her guess was right, and she was he walking right beside her. He was already dressed for practice but then again Kunimitsu did want the Regulars to arrive a little late today.  
"Sorry Fuji, someone just got Kunimitsu and me in a time bomb situation. I though Kunimitsu might actually punch the person in class today." Sakura explained for her curtness.  
"Wow it's only the second day and you're making enemies. Wait did I hear you right, someone was getting under Tezuka's skin so much that he almost lost his cool?" He said in a tone that made it seem like he was about to go pondering in his own thoughts.  
"Kasumi-chan has undoubtly gotten herself into some trouble while we were gone at the tournament and she wonders Mitsu and I never let her out of sights normally. You got to love it whenever people are overdramatic especially first year girls with brothers in our grade. The girl got hit by a ball that Kasumi-chan hit. Her older brother heard Kunimitsu and I talking about it in class after lunch, pretty worried if I don't get this settled today they'll wind up trying to attack Kasumi-chan." She defended herself.  
"Ah, little Kasumi-chan doesn't know how to keep her nose clean. If you had a free moment I wanted to talk to you." Syusuke stated as the topped the mound, were the tennis courts could easily be seen. Sakura couldn't respond because she noticed what was happening down at the tennis courts. Kasumi was doing back handsprings until she hit the fence and her two attackers chased her into it. One of her attackers Sakura recognized as Spike, and the other she concluded was Nikki, his little sister. When Kasumi hit the fence, Spike attacked. He gripped her by her throat and lifted her off the ground. Sakura was pissed, Kasumi was like her little sister and her best friend and she wasn't down there helping her out. Syusuke was wondering why Sakura wasn't responding, so he looked at the scene that Sakura was staring at. Syusuke looked slightly pissed at what was happening down at the courts, since Kasumi was a friend of his. The two make their way down the courts unsure what they were actually going to do, but they knew that it would somehow help Kasumi.

Sakura wanted so badly to run down there and punch one of them in the face but knew better than to get into a fist fight the second day of school. Sakura began looking down for something she could throw at the two to distract them and hopefully make them release Kasumi. She spotted the perfect thing in Syusuke's hand to use to advert the two's attention.  
"Fuji do you by chance have two tennis balls on you?" Sakura questioned as she restrained herself to stay in the position that she was at. Syusuke was so shocked by Sakura's request that he forgot for a moment what was happening in front of their eyes.  
"Um…yeah, I do actually. Kunimitsu wanted us to be slightly late today so I was going to hit some balls of the wall to get a little of a practice in. Why do you ask, Hinamori?" Fuji responded as he pulled two tennis balls out of his jacket pocket. He was still wondering what Sakura was thinking she was going to do with the racket and the tennis balls when Kasumi needed their help down at the tennis courts.  
"I probably won't be able to get my perfect ace hit with your racket so do you mind using your prodigy powers and hitting the fence, maybe to startle the nimrods?" Sakura requested. She knew if she tried to hit with Syusuke's racket that it would probably wind up hitting Kasumi in the face or a few feet away from the troublesome duo. Syusuke understood now why Sakura was asking him those questions and had no problem doing what she requested. He shook his head and a smile had once again formed on his face while his sapphire blue eyes were wide open to make sure he got the accuracy that he wanted. In a blink of an eye the balls went hurdling towards the two that were tormenting Kasumi, the two balls stuck hard perfectly into the fence right about Spike and Nikki's head. The pair instantly turned trying to figure out where the balls had come from, Spike was the first one to figure it out when he saw Sakura on the top of the hill standing next to Syusuke. Spike signaled to Nikki where Sakura and Syusuke, his hand was still wrapped around Kasumi. Nikki was utterly floored by Syusuke's look, she made a mental note of getting to know him better and make him hers. Kasumi took advantage of Spike looking up at Sakura and Syusuke. She grabbed a hold of the part of the fence that was above her head, using her gymnastics leg muscles she was able whip her legs up knocking Spike in the jaw and having her legs land above her, making her look like spider-man. Spike stumbled back at the force of the impact of her feet connecting with his jaw; Nikki was too busy staring at Syusuke that she didn't notice that Spike was hit in the jaw. Syusuke began to laugh at what Kasumi had done, Sakura felt like laughing but she kept a straight face as she made her way down to the female tennis court and Syusuke followed her down chuckling to himself. Once Sakura and Syusuke made it down the mound to the tennis courts, Kasumi lunged herself landing beside Sakura, she wouldn't give Spike the pleasure of knowing that what had happened frightened her.  
"What in the world are you two doing? Do you really think that you would be getting away with harassing a student on these courts?" Sakura snarled as she tried not to yell at Spike and Nikki for attacking her best friend.  
"I told you this wasn't over with, you see I informed my sister about your little conference that you were going to have with that girl and requested that Nikki show me who the girl was that way I could make it perfectly clear what happens when you mess with my little sister." Spike explained a curt smile on his face; he was the tallest of this group and would use it to his advantage if he needed to.  
"I believe I set up this conference so I could settle things between Tezuka-chan and Olsen-chan. Now Fuji do you mind being a mediator in this?" Sakura tried to keep a calm tone but it was slowly fading with Spike shredding it to pieces. She started up again not allowing anyone to answer or begin to interrupt. "Now I pretty much know both sides of the story, Tezuka-chan's by mouth last night and Olsen-chan your side has been spreading like wild fire around the school. Now Tezuka-chan's seems to be more truthful to people personalities then yours Olsen-chan. But you are a first year so I cannot be utterly sure whether or not Tezuka-chan is telling the truth." Sakura took a pause for a breath and to study people's faces mainly two. Nikki seemed utterly pleased thinking that Sakura was siding with her, while Kasumi looked shocked that her word was being doubted by her best friend. Sakura kept looking stern, she didn't want to do what she was doing especially against her best friend but she would explain everything later to Kasumi.  
"Hinamori, Tezuka-chan has a past history of telling the truth and not straying on her words. From this other girls actions that I have seen in the past ten minutes I would be siding with Tezuka-chan." Syusuke stated as if standing up for Kasumi when he normally preferred people to suffer.  
"Fuji we cannot use the behavior that we have seen against Tezuka-chan, we are here discuss the situation from yesterday. I normally would too believe Tezuka-chan, but since I want this over with I'm going to take Olsen-chan's side. Not that I totally believe her and will not punish her for her aggressive behavior that she just showed against Tezuka-chan but I want this to end. I'm going to offer her a chance to practice with the Top 8 this afternoon instead of having to pick up balls this afternoon. For her punishment is that she has to run 30 laps around the field."  
"Kasumi! Kasumi!" A female voice called out, in a searching tone. The group looks up and spots a girl with dark auburn and dark brown hazel eyes. Kasumi took the calling voice as her cue to leave; she scouted back from Syusuke and Sakura ready to leave.  
"Sounds like one of you gymnastics friends is looking for you, Tezuka-chan. Now I believe that ends this little conference, I hope I won't have to be having another one of these things again between the both of you again anytime soon. Tezuka-chan the gymnastics team needs you, Olsen-chan start running your laps then you can join the Top 8 practice. Olsen I believe you can leave now and Fuji you needed to speak with me earlier." Everyone left that Sakura dismissed. Syusuke looked around making sure they were truly alone, Kasumi was already on the top of the mound, Nikki was on her way to the field and Spike had disappeared.  
"Yes, I do want to talk to you. I need your help getting this girl, well more like help on how to ask this girl out." Syusuke said as if he was talking about a mass of things. This made Sakura want the specifics.  
"Each girl is a different type so I need to know who this girl is and I can help you." Sakura explained interested in who the girl was that Syusuke likes.  
"Well it's….."


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

The gym felt stuffy even though Kasumi was the only one in the gym, the smell of chalk filled her nostrils. Sweat beads dropped from the loose baby hairs down onto her forehead that slowly dripped down off her chin. Gymnastics club practice had ended two hours prior, but with the tennis club having longer hours. She probably wouldn't be pushing herself as hard as she except for the fact that when she weighed in at the scales that the weight that it read was 105, which put her on the coach's bad side which meant she needed to work hard to get rid of those 5 pounds prior to the district meet. Looking at the clock on the side wall, she realized that it was about time for the tennis clubs to be finishing up.

"Well I guess it's time for me to get cleaned up some prior to meeting Mitsu and Sakura." Kasumi said to herself as pulled the hair tie that held her light brown hair in a long braid that fell to the middle of her lower back. She shook her hair letting her hair flow around her. She grabbed the towel that she had laying on the floor mat, wiping off some of the sweat off her brow. Walking into the locker room she noticed that there were sticky notes all over her locker and seemed like someone had tried to break into her locker and succeeded. With everything that had happened in the last few days she had lost a lot of the respect from her team mates, though almost all of the third-years especially her vice-captain hated her already because of the simple fact that she got chosen back then as a first year to become captain of the gymnastics team the following year.

Taking a big gulp Kasumi walked up to her locker and started looking at the sticky notes all over her locker. Several said to go die, others said fat-ass, a rare few said for her to go rot in hell. There was one that especially hit hard to her heart, it was the reason why Kunimitsu insisted that she be put in gymnastics rather than be put in tennis, was because he was afraid that everyone would think everything was being handed everything on a silver platter it said. 'You're only here because you're Kunimitsu Tezuka's little sister and Sakura Hinamori best friend. You might be the princess in their world, but in our world you're just a nobody and we'll make sure you know that. You're not just handed things here, you're going to have to work for what you earn Princess.' The horrible notes left all over her locker almost made her want to cry, but she wouldn't because she wouldn't give her team-mates the satisfaction of crushing her spirit.

"Well I guess I know that team morale is going to suck this year unless I'm able to comply with that ridiculous weight limit the coach has gotten us on, along with the fact pulling in first places in everything. Who am I kidding, I should know from Mitsu, me just always taking first place will just make the team turn on me more and more, possibly to the point where they'll hurt me." Kasumi said to herself, not catching how much she was talking to herself since everyone left. Sighing she dragged the trash can over to her locker and started throwing away all of the hateful notes that her teammates left on her locker.

Looking into her locker she realized that her teammates had done worse things than just writing awful messages, they also soaked her uniform into some form of water, from the smell of it; she guessed that it was urine. Kasumi crinkled her nose as she found a random plastic bag to throw her uniform in before stuffing it deep inside her school bag. When she stuffed her uniform into her back pack she let out a sigh of relief that they had at least left her text books unless, she shrugged her shoulders guessing that they probably realized if they did something to her text books that Sakura and Mitsu would realize that something fishy was going on in the club. For several moments Kasumi thought about returning the favor of what her team mates did to her, but decided that she would be the bigger person by not telling Mitsu or Sakura about what happened, and try to kill her team mates with kindness.

Grabbing a notepad, she wrote something nice about every single one of her team mates, even though it took several moments to think of something nice to say to her vice-captain. When she was done, she looked around the locker room feeling proud of herself thinking even though if she was being bullied maybe she would turn around someone's mind about her along with possibly making someone's day. The thought of making someone's day or the possibility of making someone change their mind about her made a small smile form on Kasumi's face as she pulled her white Seigaku's cotton jacket. She was thankful they hadn't tarnished her jacket, but she guessed if they would have ruined the jacket then they might have the coach's furry upon them. She was also grateful that she had worn her shorts throughout practice; she would have felt it to be weird if she only had her jacket and leo while walking home with her brother and his girlfriend. Looking into the mirror she realized that even though she had withheld herself from crying, her eyes had become puffy from holding back the tears. Sighing she splashed some cold water on her face to decrease some of the puffiness around her eyes. Slinging her backpack over her shoulders, she started her way towards the tennis courts to where she would meet up with Sakura and Mitsu.

When she walked out of the gymnastics gym she took a moment to breathe the fresh air and let the sun shine down on her, reminding her not everything in life was horrible though it didn't help her get out of her depressed mood at the moment. Kasumi decided to take the long route to get to the tennis court, giving her enough time for her to gather her composure and let the puffiness decrease from face. Walking through the courtyard, she made herself glance at some of the flowers not really paying attention to where she was going. She felt herself bump into someone, glancing up she found herself looking up to one of her old childhood friends.

"Hello there Kasumi." He addressed, since they weren't in practice or in school he didn't feel like being formal greeting his friend. A small blush crept on to her cheeks, she felt bad for not looking where she was going.

"Hi Syusuke, sorry for bumping into you, I wasn't looking where I was going." Kasumi whispered not looking up at the third year.

"Is everything okay Kasumi? You seemed upset and your eyes look a little puffy." He stated as he brushed some of wild hairs out of the seconds years face. Kasumi jerked her head down more to the side.

"Everything is okay, Syusuke. There is just so much chalk dust in the gym today, it's really bugging my eyes because of the contact lens, you know." Kasumi mutter, she felt horrible lying to her old school friend. Syusuke's eyes narrowed more than they already were, he had the feeling he was being lied to and was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Kasumi, I've seen you on days where the chalk dust is bad this isn't one of those days. Something else is going on, you can tell me." Kasumi gulped, she felt extremely uncomfortable and just wanted to get away from the situation.

"It was nice seeing you again Syusuke, but Mitsu and Sakura are waiting for me I better get going." She muttered as she started to walk past him. In her heart she felt bad that she didn't tell him that what was going on, but she worried what he would think of her if he knew she was bullied. Kasumi had a crush on her senpai for the last several years, and it had been hard keeping it a secret for the past years. She didn't get very far before she felt a tug on her upper arm, so hard it forced her to turn around back to where she was staring at him, his eyes wide that she could almost drown in depth of the deep blue eyes, his light brown hair gently blowing in the wind.

"Kas, even though you might not want to talk about it right know, I understand it's hard opening up to people who are real close to you, but know if you ever need to talk I'm always there to be a listening ear for you." He whispered as he pulled her close to him where his lips almost touched her ear. After he said what he had to say, he realized the second year, giving her a small kiss on the forehead. The blush on Kasumi's cheeks went from a light pink to a bright red the crossed her cheeks and nose.

"I'll see you around, Kasumi. Take good care of yourself for me okay?" He said as he walked past her, waving. The blonde stood there for several moments stunned about what had just happened. Whenever she recovered from her stunned state, she rushed towards the tennis courts, realizing how late she was for meeting up with her brother and best friend.

Several hours later, after Kasumi fixed dinner for her, Kunimitsu, and Sakura, the three sat down at their small table to have a family dinner. Kunimitsu and Sakura had their plates filled, since they had worked off so many calories during their practices. Kasumi's plate was in complete contrast compared to theirs with only several small bites of everything that she fixed which was some fish, rice, and veggie meddle. Kasumi didn't feel like eating, but knew if she didn't eat anything during their "family dinner" she would get chided from both of the people she ate with. Though it didn't get past either of her companions that she hadn't put much on her plate.

"I take you didn't have a good weigh in Kas?" Sakura commenting towards the lack of food on the plate. Mitsu and Sakura were used to the dieting habits of gymnastics especially under Kasumi's coach since he had strict weight limits he wanted his team at. Kasumi just nodded her head as she scooted her food around on her plate, her cheek resting on the palm of her left hand she kept thinking about what had happened between her and Syusuke.

"Kas, I really wish you would eat something rather than pushing your food around on your plate. You're not fooling anyone at this table that you're eating. I really wish you wouldn't force yourself to conform to those ridiculous standards that your gymnastics teacher has set for you." Kunimitsu stated as he started to scoop up more food to put on Kasumi's plate, which she instinctively moved her plate closer to her so he wouldn't be able to. Sighing Kunimitsu gave up and just put the scoop of food back into the bowl it came from, which caused Sakura to just shake her head. Even though neither one of them would openly admit on how much they hated the yo-yo dieting that the youngest Tezuka was on, they would never full express it because they worried that she would just give up on gymnastics.

"Well are things getting better between you and third-years? I know you've mentioned that they tend to dislike you since you were given the captain spot?" Sakura asking trying to pry to make sure that things were getting better for the young captain. Kasumi looked up from her plate, raising her hand off her cheek contemplating her answer for several moments before replaying.

"Nope, still pretty disliked by the third-years, it doesn't help that my vice-captain is the main rallier with the coach. But I am trying to win them over. I thought I did nice gesture I thought if I a sticky note on each of everyone's locker saying what I like about each and every one even my vice-captain." Kasumi said in a quiet tone, leaving out important details of why she really left the notes on the lockers.

"How's are the ranking tournaments going for you guys?" She asked trying to get the conversation off her and onto them to relieve some of the uncomfortable feeling that she was having. She always felt like Sakura and Kunimitsu had so much on their plates, she didn't want to add more to their plates by letting them know that everyone in the gymnastics club even the coach hated her, then it would just make them worry too much that they wouldn't ever let her out of their sites and she wasn't planning on adding fuel to fire of thinking that the only reason why she got somewhere was because who she knew, she wanted to be known for her skills.

The sun beamed down onto the tennis court, radiating it heat up to the players on the court. Looking around the court Sakura noticed she was the only one out of all of the third-years to be on the court, a look of bewilderment scowled across her face. All of the first years where scattered about putting up the nets along with sweeping the dirt off the old courts. Nervous thoughts of her team mates started to fill her head, she held down a deep hope that if she and the rest of the third years made it to national tournament or maybe even won the national tournament not only could the guys be the only real team recognized for their abilities and possibly be able to provide better facilities to girls that would follow them through the pass. She waited another five minutes of letting the wretched thoughts of losing her whole team before asking if anyone had seen any of the third-years.

"I think I saw some of the senpais turning their jackets into the Coach Risa during lunch Hinamori-senpai." Arisa stated, as she stood away from the captain afraid of the wrath that might exude from the captain when she heard the news that possibly that all of her third-year classmates dropped the tennis club. Sakura bit into her bottom lip trying to with-hold her anger, knowing that it wouldn't be fair to lash out on the person that was the bravest of them all to tell her the possibly bad news. Without warning Sakura turned on her heel, steams blowing out her ears, as she stormed her way back into the school. It didn't take much for her to find her year-mates they were all hanging out in one of the classrooms set aside for third years. By the time that Sakura had found her classmates, her anger just intensified.

"So any of you want to explain why you aren't on the tennis courts?" Sakura asked trying to keep her composure, since she didn't have both sides of the story for all she knew; maybe they were running late because of some school assignment.

"We quit during lunch today Sakura. We're sick of being treated like we are on the bottom of everyone's shoe at this school that includes our non-existent coach." A red head with ocean blue eyes, Nina, stated. Nina had been Sakura's vice-captain and probably only one of the few people that felt like that she was able to deliver the bad news whenever it came to the hot-headed team captain.

"This was our year you guys, the last two years of practice have lead up to this very year. With all of the practice and training we have been doing we were going to win it this year." Sakura pleaded, she thought it was better to plead with her team at first then scare them back into the tennis team.

"You said that last year Sakura, even tried to make the Top 8 from the year before during your first year into believing that bull. Even though we might grow stronger, the other teams do to, so it's no use making us trying to believe it especially since our coach can't even carve some time out of her schedule to install some confidence in the team." Nina replied, ignoring the pleading tone in her ex-captain's voice. Hearing the reasons for why they were quitting just made Sakura madder and madder. She couldn't believe that they were quitting before the season started. It made her feel inadequate, as if her constant reassurance and being with them every step of the way wasn't good enough for these girls. Especially when she gave it one hundred and ten percent into making her team better, she imagined this was the literal sense of being spat in the face.

"FINE IF YOU ALL WANT TO QUIT, LIKE YOU HAVE THAT'S FINE. JUST KNOW THIS IF WE START PLAYING WELL THIS SEASON AND YOU ALL DECIDE YOU WANT SOME OF THE FAME, KNOW I BETTER NOT EVER SEE YOU ON THOSE COURTS! YOU'VE ALL HAVE BETRAYED ME, SO YOU ARE HERE BY BANNED FROM THE TENNIS COURTS! Good day." Sakura yelled at them before turning on her heel to get out of the room as soon as should could. Her heart ached slight and tears came to the corner of her eyes, except for Kasumi she thought the girls she had spent the last few years with where her friends and severing the tie to them like that hurt worse than probably saying good-bye to them at graduation. Sakura wiped around the corner of her eyes, she wouldn't let them know how much they had hurt her, or let the coach see that as a weakness. Sakura knew where her next stop was.

It took several minutes to gather her thoughts as she walked down to Coach Risa's office, along with controlling the anger of losing a very intra-quit part of her grand scheme of things. She just went straight into the office without bothering to knock. It didn't surprise her that Coach Risa was on the phone talking, holding up a finger signaling that she would be with Sakura in just a minute. Sakura just rolled her eyes as she took a seat in the chair, her arms crossed around her chest as she tapped her foot impatiently. She began twisting her some of the red and brown strands as several minutes passed by. Out of everyone on the team Sakura, knew the best of how much Coach Risa cared for the tennis teams. After about five minutes of waiting for the Coach to get off the phone, Sakura reached over and hung up on whoever the coach was talking to. The middle-aged woman gave Sakura a deathly glare.

"Do you know who you just hung up on?" Coach Risa asked, tapping her fingernails on the desk.

"Do I really look like I care who you were talking to. Why in the hell didn't you tell me that all of the third-years besides me quit the team today?" Sakura hissed through clenched teeth, digging her nails into the chair.

"It was one of the reporters from the Tennis Magazine, I figured maybe I can get some exposure to our crap team. And what does it matter if half the team quit? It's not like you get far when it comes to the tournament." Coach Risa responded, taking pride in the anger that stirred in Sakura. For Sakura it was the last straw, she was sick of people spitting in her face today.

"WHY THE HELL YOU SHOULD CARE IS BECAUSE THIS YEAR AT LEAST WE HAD A DAMN CHANCE OF DOING GOOD IN TOURNAMENTS! I MADE SURE I HAND PICKED THIS TEAM WHY YOU SAT ON YOUR ASS! I TRAINED THESE GIRLS FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS AND THEN BECAUSE YOU DON'T GIVE US ANY DAMN ATTENTION THEY QUIT! IF ANYONE IS THE MOST SICK OF BEING TREATED LIKE WE DON'T MATTER OR BEING THE BOTTOM OF EVERYTHING IT'S ME! AND FOR YOU AND THE REST OF GIRLS TO SPIT IN MY FACE LIKE YOU HAVE DONE TODAY IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY SHAMELESS. I KNEW THIS YEAR WAS GOING TO BE THE YEAR TO CHANGE THINGS YET BECAUSE YOU COULD GIVE TWO RATS ASS ABOUT US, WE HAVE LOST ANY CHANCES OF GOING TO NATIONALS THIS YEAR ALONG WITH GETTING SOME MORE ATTENTION TO SEIGAKU'S FEMALE TEAM AND POSSIBLE EVEN GETTING BETTER EQUIPMENT FOR THE NEXT YEAR AND YEAR AFTER THAT SO MAYBE THEY WOULDN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE SHITTY COURTS AND SOME NETS THAT DON'T HAVE HOLES IN THEM!" Sakura screamed, as she stood up to her feet, hands clenched at her sides.

Coach Risa looked up at the tennis club captain, as if what the teenager said didn't even faze her. Sakura seeing that she wasn't going to get anywhere left the coach's office slamming the door, making the wall shake slightly behind her. Her hands were still clenched as she made her way back to the tennis courts, to where all of the second-year and first-year students stood around not knowing what exactly to do in this situation.

"The ranking tournament is over. Take down the nets and pick up the balls and you're more than welcome to leave after that." Sakura felt better after yelling at the coach, but it still took some self-control not to take some of her anger out on the people that could help what was going on in the situation. Sakura felt things were going a lot worse than they should have gone down, if the girls would have just come to her instead of going behind her back she wouldn't have felt like she had been exposed to the public so much.

"Ummmm…. Hinamori-senpai, is it too much if we ask who made the Top 8?" A random first year asked. Running a hand through her shoulder length hair, Sakura walked over to the score board to see who had won the previous day up until their lose to who were currently the Top 8.

"Arisa Neoko, second year, Makoto Ikeda, second year, Aya Suzuki, first year, Chiharu Nakamura, first year, Haruka Yamamoto, first year, Hitomi Hayashi, first year, and Suzume Kimura, first year. Congratulations to everyone who participated in the ranking tournament. May we have a good year. Who are now in the Top 8 please come to practice early so I can get your sizes for your jackets. Also if you want to go watch the male's tennis club that's fine, they should be at practice for a few matches longer." Sakura stated, in a toneless state.

All that Sakura wanted now was to go to the male's tennis club and just get a big hug from Tezuka and let him know that things were going to be okay. She kept thinking about possible candidates to recruit so she could have some people with experience on her team rather than being a team completely made up of first years, one particular second year stuck in her mind though it would take a long time to convince the older brother to let the little sister to participate on her team, but Sakura had a feeling even if it took some time she would be able to convince that brother to let the little sister join her team.

She didn't pay much attention to where her feet moved, she was too deep into her thoughts. Looking up she realized that she had walked all the way over the male tennis courts, sighing she started her eyes searching for the one person at the moment that could do the most for her. Sakura was able to spot him pretty quickly, walking over to him she planting her head right into his chest. Which didn't make more than her bending her head forward slight, since he was so tall. Kunimitsu looked down at his girlfriend not sure on what exactly she was doing.

"Just comfort me Mitsu. I've had a pretty bad day." She whispered into his chest. With the entire club still at the courts, he wasn't sure what he should do. An internal battle of being club captain and boyfriend waged within him. He patted her back gently for a moment, whispering to where only she could hear, there there.

"Damn it Mitsu, I've had a really bad day like horrible worst day of my life day! I don't need you half assing comforting me!" She yelled, causing the whole attention of the club to be directed towards them. Kunimitsu scowled thinking of how many laps he would make everyone for stopping in what they were doing instead of practicing, but he complied with Sakura's request giving her a huge squeeze and rubbing her back trying to comfort her the best that he could. Tears started flowing from her eyes ruining the mascara and eyeliner, dripping down onto Kunimitsu's uniform to where little black water spots onto his chest.

"I lost everyone on my team Mitsu, all of the third years quit today during lunch. I have two second years and five first years, any hope I had of winning nationals this year or going to nationals have gone down the drain. What am I going to do? I can't get this girls shaped up to where we make it past the second tournament." She whimpered as she cried into his chest. He couldn't help but feel really sorry for his girlfriend, he couldn't imagine how things were to lose everyone in your team had to be horrible.

"It's going to be okay, Sakura. When we get home tonight, we will put together a game plan so we can enhance your team into winning. I love you." He whispered as he continued to rub her back, walking to direct her towards the tennis hut. Kunimitsu didn't mind comforting Sakura, but he knew how much she hated exposing her weakness to everyone. At the moment she knew that she had made the right choice to come to the one person that would be best to comfort her.

"Thanks Mitsu. Love you too."


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

The crowd was starting to grow anxious and excited causing it to become very loud around the tennis courts. It could have been from the sun's heat finally getting to them or it was because it was the final set of the final match of the districts tournaments and it was being played by the captains of the schools. The captains were Sakura Hinamori from Siegaku Junior High School and Masa Chikamatsu from Fudomine Junior High School. It wouldn't have come down to a fifth set, but since all of the third years except Sakura had quit and the team consisted mainly of first years it was surprising that they had made it this far. The sets were as the following Fudomine winning Doubles 2 and Singles 3 while Siegaku winning Doubles 1 and Singles 2. If this set followed the pattern that was set, then Fudomine would be the winner of the districts tournament and Siegaku would be working hard to keep in the tournaments to go to Nationals.  
"Good job, Neoko, you did a fine job." Sakura congratulated Arisa. Arisa was walking over to the bench, where Sakura was sitting since the coach hadn't bother to show up that day, she had just won her set and to say the least she was ecstatic. She was hoping that she was showing Sakura that she didn't make a wrong decision about making her Vice-Captain. Sakura let a smile play on her glossed peach flavored lips. She was excited it would be the first time that she would be playing in the district tournament since her first year.  
"Vice-Captain Neoko, you're the bench coach for this set." Sakura instructed the second year as she pulled off the white cotton jacket. She stared over at the girl with the black jacket with purple trim with the words 'Captain Masa Chikamatsu' stitched in purple. The girl had short red hair that hung right below her ears, and black eyes that seemed to pierce the soul, was watching Sakura out of the corner of her eye. After pulling off her jacket she grabbed a white ball cap with Siegaku in big blue letters. She pulled her bun through the back and pulled it down to the middle of her forehead. She grabbed her racket and made her way onto the tennis courts. She was playing with her racket in her hands, a bad habit that she had when there was nothing to do except to wait.  
"Well Hinamori it seems that we finally get to meet each other on the courts after so many years." Masa commented to Sakura as she made her way onto the courts. Neither of the two cared for how the line ups went, especially Sakura with mainly having freshman on her team.  
"Yes Chikamatsu it does seem that we get to meet on the courts after three years. It's going to be a shame that you will be letting you team mates waste their hard work trying to be number one against my team." She sounded cocky but no one in the female tennis club knew what powers Sakura had up her sleeve, the only ones that seemed to know was Kunimitsu Tezuka, Syusuke Fuji, and possibly Kasumi Tezuka. This was the third year that both girls had been on the Top 8 females but never had been placed against each other. Yet today the fates had a different idea and decided that it was about time that the two face each other on the courts.  
"GO HINAMORI-SENPAI!" All of the first years cheered out, especially Nikki, who hadn't made the Top 8 girls. Sakura couldn't help but to let a true smile form on her face, causing her peach glossed lips to part as a chuckle escape from them. Masa wasn't sure if it was one of Sakura's mind tricks but she didn't care for it at all.

"This match hasn't even been played Hinamori. It might actually be your team that will be regretting having you play causing all of their hard work to come in second place at the district tournament." Masa returned trying to get under Sakura's skin. What Masa didn't know was that Sakura didn't let anyone get under her skin.  
"If you're trying to get under my skin, Chikamatsu then it's not going to work. With the people I live with, I've got thick skin." Sakura boasted, and then she realized that her competitive side was getting out too much and she needed to retract all of the talk that her mouth seemed to say.  
"Well it seems like that both of us are confident in our skills let's see who has the better skills and more determination to win this set." Masa stated as she walked up to the net. She has her hand extended ready to shake Sakura's hand. Since they had to yell to have their conversation everyone heard the exchange of words and was wondering if the proper handshake before a set would be taking place. Sakura repositioned her face to make it seem like she was concentrative on the match at hand as she walked up to the net also. She raised her hand and shook the other girl's hand; it was a strong hand shake as if the other was trying to cry mercy first.  
"That's enough ladies! Head back to your positions! First to serve is Fudomine's Chikamatsu!" The referee called out to the two girls at the nets. The two released the other's hand with a push as if they were trying to push the other. Sakura went to the base line while Masa went to service line. Sakura put a finger to her lips and signaled all of the Siegaku girls to be quiet; over half of the crowd went silent with the signal that Sakura gave. Masa threw the ball up and hit it when it was in the sweet spot of her racket. It was fast but not fast enough to where Sakura couldn't return it. It took several steps for Sakura to catch up with the ball, allowing her to hit a forehand that sent the ball flying off towards her opponent. Sakura's return was even faster than the serve from Masa; Masa seemed shocked that Sakura was able to return her serve with her own speed ball. She was short of hitting the ball with any of her racket by inches. She groaned not caring for the lead that Sakura was taking already.  
"Love – 15!" The referee called out to the participants on the crowd more importantly to the crowd that seemed shocked by the ace return that Sakura dealt. Masa shock her head trying to regain her concentration, she stepped back to the service line deciding that she would just have to add more speed to the ball. She threw the ball up again and once again the ball hit the sweet spot of her racket which caused the ball to go flying towards Sakura. Once again it took a few simple steps and she was able to return the ball again this time with a backhand. Masa wasn't going to let Sakura return her serves surprise anymore. In an attempt to counter Masa ran to the base line but it was already too late the ball had bounced and bounced again.  
"Love – 30!" The referee called out again, this time the supporters of Siegaku couldn't follow Sakura's order and began to hoot and holler for Sakura's double ace returns.  
"Well well Hinamori-senpai, it seems that you're playing a Cat and Mouse Game. I do believe that you get onto me when I play that type of style." A female's voice carried over all of the other voices causing Sakura to turn her head to see that Kasumi was standing there instead of being at the gymnastics meet that was only a few yards away from the tennis courts.

"Yes it does seem that I have picked up your technique slightly Tezuka-chan. But I do believe you need to be in a gymnastics meet instead of watching me play with a version of your technique. Now scat before I tell your older brother that you were over here." Sakura replied up to her friend. Masa was pissed that Sakura was casually carrying on a conversation while she was supposed to be playing her in a set. Masa decided to take advantage of Sakura yelling out at an occupant of the crowd, what she didn't know was Sakura was watching what the other girl would do. Masa was so angry when she threw up the ball and went to hit the ball that she missed the ball completely.  
"Now now, Masa, this is just Game 1 I would hate for you to double fault!" Sakura antagonized as the referee called fault on Masa's serve. She grounded her teeth together as she tossed the ball up again and she was able to hit the ball this time with the racket but it went soaring right into the net. Masa hadn't realized it yet but Sakura has successfully gotten under her skin and would be using to her full advantage.

"Double Fault! Love – 40!" The referee called out signaling that it was now game point for the first game of the last set. Sakura let her face set back into what made her look like she was concentrating, but all knew that she was thinking up the different ways that she could take the game point. Masa closed her eyes and counted to ten, as she breathed in and out slowly. She needed to shove Sakura from out under her skin and relax to play at the best of her abilities. After she finished counting she threw up the ball again and was able to hit another speed ball towards Sakura. Wanting to try out a new move, Sakura rushed to the net meeting the ball. She swung an overhead sending the ball straight down, suspecting that Sakura might try something like that Masa had also run to the net.

She was able to return the overhead, sending the ball to the back right corner of the court. She blinked and there was Sakura in the back corner waiting for the ball to bounce right in front of her. Masa took off to the middle of the court prepared to run back if she needed to or run forward. The ball landed right in front of Sakura as everyone knew it would and she turned her racket ever so slightly when she hit the ball with a forehand. The ball went back towards Masa, as it was passing the net the ball got snagged on the net having the ball fall straight down on Masa's side of the court.  
"Damn it!" Masa yelled as she dived for the ball, hitting it up and over the net. Sakura was ready for Masa though she was able to return the drop shot; Sakura used her backhand to return the ball before it even bounced. The ball went flying landing in the back left corner of the court. Masa was still on the ground when the ball had landed, she knew that there was no chance that she would be able to return the ball before the ball bounced again.  
"Game 1 to Siegaku's Hinamori. Switch courts!" The referee yelled out, the crowd yelled out again. It was the first rally of the set, it didn't last long but it showed what type of player that Sakura was going to be. Masa stood up from the ground and began to dust herself off. Her knees stung slightly for when she dove for the drop shot she had landed on her knees and scrapped them on the cement of the tennis courts. Both teams had a fairly large crowd, they continuously cheered for their teams. As Sakura was making her way towards the other side of the court she stopped for a moment to talk to Arisa.  
"Enjoy what you are seeing Neoko? At your next game I expect you to be playing like this or better. Also when I silence everyone who needs to be quiet, especially you, until I give the signal to cheer. Otherwise you're doing pretty well as my Vice-Captain, just remember these tips I'm telling you." Sakura stated and Arisa simply nodded her head showing that she understood what Sakura was trying to tell her. Sakura started spinning her racket over her fist, showing that bad habit once again. At the service line of the other court, Sakura held her finger up to her lips again. The Siegaku crowd was silenced again, this time she hoped they would wait till she gave them the signal to cheer this time around. She took her finger off her peach glossed lips and went to grab a tennis ball out of the pocket of her yellow skirt.  
Sakura tossed the ball slightly higher than what she preferred, so she didn't swing instead she just let the ball bounce on the ground. She caught the ball after it bounce and began to bounce the ball down with the racket, allowing her to get the feel for the ball that she was using. When she felt like she was finally ready to serve a wicked smirk formed, and her blue hazel eyes locked with Masa across the court. She tossed the ball up again and it went to the height that she preferred. She hit the ball while she was staring at Masa, challenging her, the ball left the racket going faster than the serves that Masa had done. Masa couldn't register that Sakura had served because she was too in tuned to her opponent staring her down that she forget it was Sakura's serve.  
"15 – Love!" The referee called out. The Siegaku crowd kept silent, while the Fudomine's crowd started booing Sakura as if she was playing unfairly.  
"Come on, Chikamatsu! Get your head in the game! If you're not even going to bother to return my serves then why don't you quit right now?" Sakura yelled over to the other girl. She sounded mad but the truth was that she, she didn't believe that mind trick she had just pulled off would have worked with Masa. She expected something better from the other girl; the match was starting to become boring in Sakura's mind.  
"I'm going to serve here in a moment!" Sakura yelled out as she pulled another ball out of the yellow skirt that she was wearing. She bounced the ball, till she felt comfortable with it.  
"Here I go!" She yelled again as she threw the ball up in the air again. The ball seemed to be faster than the first serve, yet it flew right into the net.  
"Fault!" The referee yelled. Masa seemed to have come out of the depressing thought that she might not even get a point against Sakura.  
"Damn it! Too much spin on that one." Sakura muttered as she bounced another ball in her hand preparing to make the serve go in this time. She threw the ball up again and hit the ball sending it towards Masa at the same speed that the last one she hit. It went over the net this time, it landed right in front of Masa then it suddenly jumped up and went towards the opposite direction of Masa. Masa thought it was going to go up towards her face, thinking that Sakura had mimicked the kick serve that one of the first year guys was able to perform. Masa ran over trying to hit the ball, when she tried to hit the ball it seemed to disappear and reappear bouncing on the ground behind her.

"30 – Love!" The referee yelled as Sakura raised her hand up to the crowd her fingers separated in a v shape. The Siegaku crowd and Top 8 players went crazy; they had never seen anything like it. Sakura liked the pace that she has set knowing that Masa wouldn't be able to change the pace and the set of the match was as good as hers.

The chatter began to become faint as people left the chalked filled gymnastics gym, they were vividly talking about the performances they saw debating how judges could deduct points from some of the routines. Kasumi was sitting on a bench, a girl with short curly raven black hair and blue hazel eyes. The girl had Kasumi's right hand in her left hand, running her right hand over Kasumi's right wrist. Kasumi groaned she didn't know why the coach was having Hoshimi look at her wrist; she already knew that she had sprained her wrist and she knew exactly when she sprained her wrist on bars. She was cursing the team in her mind, she didn't ever think of putting a lock on her backpack or locker but someone broke into her locker the night before last and stole her grips that she used for bar routines. She found it extremely cruel of them to do that since most of the second years and third years knew she suffered from a hair line fracture at the end of last year.  
"Well you're sprained your wrist. It's probably from when you did the bars routine, I would recommend that you stay off that wrist for the next few days. No more doing tricks like you did today for at least not for the next two weeks or until after I've cleared you off on it." Hoshimi whispered to Kasumi, trying hard not to let the coach hear her as the coach walked by.  
"You know Tezuka if you didn't have so much weight on you, you would have been able to perform all of the movements that you do without hurting yourself. Your weight today was one hundred two pounds, that's two pounds overweight for someone on my team. I let you slide this time, but I have someone that can easily replace you if you aren't a hundred pounds or less for the next meet." The coach said as he glared down at Kasumi. Kasumi shook her head, her white angel wings banging against her cheeks, only she knew that the routines she did today. It took all of her might not too smart off about if she hadn't so much hate from her team mates and coach to where they would steal her stuff maybe then she wouldn't have re-injured her wrist. The coach started walking off, Hoshimi dug into her medical bag to grab to a new package of ace wrap.  
"I'm going to undo the wrap that you have on here, you were due for some new ace wrap the one you have on has gotten really thin." Hoshimi spoke as she began the procedure that she had just explained to Kasumi about what she was doing. Kasumi winced in pain as Hoshimi began to pull the ace wrap that was stuck to her open blood blisters. Kasumi was biting the inside of her lip, to keep the sequels of pain from escaping her vanilla glossed lips even though some whimpers managed to escape through her lips. She wanted a chance to go wash her hands before the trainer started to wrap her wrist in the new ace wrap, but before she could even start to talk Hoshimi started wrapping the new ace wrap around her wrist and palm.  
After Hoshimi finished wrapping Kasumi's wrist, Kasumi walked over to where her bag was and pulled on her white cotton jacket the signified to anyone who didn't know now she was the captain and whether they liked it or not the other teams wouldn't mess with her. She shifted her jacket more towards her right side so it could hide the ace bandage around her wrist. She felt careless for not locking her things away but for also getting in a rush in wrapping her wrist when she realized that someone had stolen her grips. She wanted to hide the injury from Sakura and Kunimitsu as long as she could because she knew that if they were to find out she would also get scolded from them also for making such a stupid mistake. Even though she had done well score wise, she had enough scolding for one day from her teammates and coach that she didn't want to bring anymore onto herself.  
She left the gym without saying good-bye to anyone except for Hoshimi, who wasn't on the team but was a trainer that liked watching gymnastics so she was the only one who was kind of nice to her at the meet, since it seemed like everyone else just wanted her to fail. Walking outside the gym she sighed in relief because it seemed like Sakura and Kunimitsu had already left the tournament to celebrate their win at the district tournament. It was another reason why she liked Hoshimi the trainer would always update her on how everyone was doing at the tournaments. She began the short walk to Kawamura's family sushi restaurant. When she got the place she took a deep breath, checked to make sure the ace bandage wasn't showing. Kasumi opened the door to the restaurant to see that all of the guys, plus Sakura were celebrating. The scene was enough to put a smile on her face.  
"Hey look who's here! It' Baby-girl!" Eiji yelled out to the rest as he went to dive for some sushi. Kunimitsu and Sakura nodded from their chairs welcoming her, while the rest seemed too occupied with their own celebrations that they didn't realize that the younger Tezuka was there. Kasumi took off her flip-flops and laid her bag on top of her shoes before heading over to sit next to Syusuke.  
"Excuse me, Fuji-senpai. Is anyone sitting next to you?" Kasumi asked in her quite tone, it felt weird calling him that, but she figured it was in public she needed to be respectful. She looked different when she came from gymnastics her contacts were in, her hair was pulled back into a high phony tail, and her white cotton jacket almost covered the hem of her blue gymnastics shorts.  
"Um..sure, Kasumi-chan. How was the meet today?" Syusuke was nervous when he turned to see Kasumi asking him to sit next to him. It was normal to see her in the outfit, but he had figured that she would have changed into her school uniform before heading over to the celebration.  
"It was good; I place first in everything so I guess we could say I'm starting the season off right." She stammered she always got nervous when she had a one on one conversation with him. She looked at all of the food that was still left at the table she hadn't eaten anything all day except for a banana Sakura had managed to shove down her throat before they all left that morning, then she remembered what the coach had said about her weight and thought it better not to eat anything. Syusuke gave her one of his famous smiles that always made her melt on the inside.

"Would you care for any sushi, Kasumi-chan? I'm pretty sure that I can find you some sushi that isn't wasabi sushi around here." He asked when he noticed that she looked at the table in front of them but didn't get anything to eat.  
"Oh, I ate before I left the gymnastics meet. So I'm not hungry at the moment." She lied, she hated lying but she didn't want to explain to someone outside her family and Sakura her normal gymnastics weight loss routine. 'That's so sweet of him; I wish I could just tell him that I have a crush on him.' She thought to herself as she looked at him.  
"Hey Kasumi how was gymnastics?" Sakura questioned as she sat on the other side of Kasumi, noticing that Kasumi's jacket was pulled on the right side as if she was trying to hide something.  
"Took first in all of the events so it was a good meet for not even putting everything I have in it." She replied automatically, noticing where Sakura's eyes were glued at. At first Kasumi thought Sakura was coming over to say something about her and Syusuke, but when she caught where Sakura's eyes were it was then that's when she became nervous if she would try something to reveal that Kasumi had injured herself again.  
"Well that's good, I'm glad to hear that." Sakura praised as she tapped on Kasumi's wrist. Kasumi wrist instantly jerked her hand back, it wasn't extremely painful but she hadn't taken anything to relieve the swelling or pain that was already there.  
"Well eat up Captain; you'll need your strength to motivate your team to making it to Nationals." Sakura said pushing a plate of sushi towards her. The plate in front of Kasumi made her scowl, because she was forcing herself not to eat even though the temptation to eat the delicious food was high. Shooting Sakura a glare, Kasumi hated her at that moment for trying to force her to do something that was already hard for her to do.  
"She said that she ate before she left the gymnastics meet, Hinamori." Syusuke interjected into the conversation. He was shifting his eyes as if telling Sakura to scram. Sakura didn't believe that Kasumi had eaten before she had left the gymnastics meet, she hated seeing Kasumi going through the weight loss that she did to stay on the gymnastics team but knew it was better not to bring it up because Kasumi would just ignore her.  
"Well that's funny because I know Kas hates the confession stand food. It's just weird to hear that she ate there." Sakura stated, pleading with her eyes to Kasumi to eat something even if it was just a few bites of food.  
"Well I had a real light breakfast and we didn't break for lunch, so when it got done with I was really hungry so I grabbed something while we were still there." Kasumi mumbled as she continued to lie, this time it was worse because she was lying to keep her story straight with her crush and then to the person that was like her older sister. She glared over to Sakura as if telling  
"Eat at least a little bit of sushi. One or two bites." Sakura pleaded with Kasumi. Kasumi let out an exasperated long breath before standing up.

"You know what I think I'm just going to go home." She said as she began to walk to the door, because she hadn't eaten that day didn't feel like arguing with everyone in the restaurant as it seemed like it would soon turn to. She pulled the gymnastics bag back onto her left shoulder and was slipping on her flip-flops.

"Imouto! Where do you think you're going?" Kunimitsu yelled out over the room to her, she looked back over to him to see Sakura standing behind him with her hand on his back.  
"I'm going to head on home I'm really tired I haven't gotten much sleep with how early morning practices have been for me this year." She replied telling the truth while leaving out a small part of why she was leaving. He nodded his head, he preferred that she didn't walk home by herself but the rest of the gang, Tezuka, and Sakura would be leaving in a few minutes so he would let her begin the walk home. She walked out of the restaurant she noticed that the sun was setting off in the distance. She repositioned her gymnastics bag making sure that the bag wouldn't wind up cutting into her shoulder once she started walking. She started walking as if she never stopped at the sushi restaurant, her flip-flops clicking each step from hitting the sidewalk. It was lonely walking home by herself, but it gave her time to think and a chance to escape before Sakura made anyone too suspicious of her.  
"Hey Kasumi, wait up!" A soft male's voice called out to her before she could even make it to the end of the block. She felt a red blush burn across her cheeks, she had recognized the voice but she didn't think that he would follow her. She turned her head to see that Syusuke was coming after her; she turned her head back around hoping that he hadn't caught the large blush that burned her cheeks.  
"Yes Syusuke?" She questioned as if she was wondering if she had forgotten something.  
"I really wanted to congratulate you on your win today in gymnastics and to see if you wanted company on your walk home." Syusuke muttered as he looked ahead instead down at her, like when they normally talked.  
"Thank you and good job in today's tournament. All of you must be really please with yourselves. Well you really should be inside and celebrating instead of thinking that you need to walk me home like some five year old. I won't get lost like I used to coming home from your house after a play date with Yuuta." Kasumi stuttered she was slightly sour about the thought that he didn't think that she didn't know to get to her house from Kawamura's.  
"I wasn't suggesting that you didn't know your way home Kasumi. I just thought you would like some company. You and I haven't gotten to hang out with each other much since last year and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for us to catch up. Plus you seemed like you were upset again, so I figured I would give you another chance of telling me what's going on." He rambled as he scratched the back of his head.  
"Oh I'm sorry Syusuke for automatically assuming that you thought I was incompetent, when you offered to walk me home. I think it's pretty sweet that you actually care enough to make sure I get home safely." Kasumi apologized and gracefully accepted his offer, purposely ignoring part of what he said about telling him what was going on. They walked for several moments in silence.

"So are you going to tell me what's going on in your life or are we just going to walk in complete silence?" He asked as he playfully bumped into her.

"Sorry.." She stammered as a blush sprawled across her cheeks, "Syusuke… can I tell you something and you won't tell Mitsu?" Kasumi believed him when he said he would be her listening ear if she ever needed to get something off her chest. Syusuke looked down at the second year curious what she was going to tell him, he simply nodded her head trying to be the shoulder she needed at the moment. Kasumi opened her mouth ready to tell him everything that was going on from the hatred of the coach to her horrible team mates, but decided against it at last moment so her mouth just opened and then closed firmly. He noticed the motions, he felt saddened that she couldn't tell him what was going on in her life, but figured he just needed to be there instead of pressuring her to talk. Swinging his arm around her shoulder, he pulled into a side hug. Kasumi rest her head on Syusuke's shoulder, enjoying the moment of the embrace, thinking she could get used to this if she could manage to show him that he and her were went to be together.

"It's okay Kas, you don't want to talk about it right now." He said in a comforting tone and didn't say anymore, the two just walked in silence till he made sure she got home safely.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The sun was barely rising over the horizon as Kasumi made her way into the dark locker room inside the gymnastics gym. Flicking on the light, she was horrified by what she saw in the flickering light. She raised a hand up over her mouth, as she stepped towards her locker, re-adjusting her glasses making sure that she was seeing the correct thing. By now she was used to all of the hateful notes that people had been sticking over her locker, she was even used to items going missing like textbooks and her grips but what she saw on her locker made her worry about what step her teammates were willing to step to next. In bright deep red dripping down the locker door, 'DIE FATASS!'. With a picture of her taped up next to it, they burned holes where her eyes should have been, with red marker they drew vertical lines through her lips and made a horizontal mark across her neck.

Even though she made a promise to herself that she wouldn't let her team mates get under her skin or make her quit, she feared that her team mates were willing to go from their mental abuse to physical abuse. In that very moment, she knew what she had to do and even though it seemed like she was giving up but she knew it wasn't worth any more physical or mental harm coming to her. Kasumi was just grateful, that she was the only one in the gym, that she had shown up at least thirty minutes prior to morning practice before other showed up to avoid hearing the whispering and murmurs about what she was about to do.

Opening her locker, she quickly emptied everything out that was hers so it wouldn't be stolen once she left, which wasn't as quick as she wanted since Sakura and Kunimitsu insisted that she wear an actual wrist brace until her wrist healed again. She removed the white jacket off her shoulders, putting it around her forearm as she dug through her bag pulling out a right red leo and skimpy blue shorts and putting them around her forearm. Walking out of locker room, she found her coach walking into his office. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to coach and shoved the articles of clothing into her coach.

"I'm sick of you and everyone else's bull. As a student I do not have to be treated that way. I QUIT!" Kasumi stated matter of factly, she quickly turned onto her heel walked out of the gym. As she walked out of the gym, tears started forming at corners of her eyes, even though she never really enjoyed gymnastics since it always seemed like she was forced into the sport but she took a lot of pride in being the best at what she did especially since she had such a nach at it. She felt like there was a hole inside of her and really didn't know where to go or what to do now since she just quit the sport that she spent that last 13 years doing.

Anxiety started setting in once she realized that she was going to have to tell her brother and Sakura that she had quit the gymnastics club, which caused her to officially start crying. As she started walking towards the males' tennis courts, she kept trying to tell her positive thoughts. Kasumi had never really questioned or argued with her older brother, much less defy his wishes as much as she just did. She kept twisting several strands of her hair in between her fingers and she kept muttering to herself that she could tell her brother that she quit the sport that he pushed her into. She walked through the courtyard, taking in the beauty trying to distract herself from what she had just done and to reinforce in her head that she had done the right thing no matter what people said.

By the time that she made it to the males tennis courts she had gather enough courage to face her brother. Syusuke was the first one to realize that the younger Tezuka was there, it made him worry because she looked like she had been crying again. He even took several steps before he realized that he was being watched. Since he turned his attention away from tennis, it caused the other regulars to started noticing that she was there, her older brother who was staring at her coldly as if she had done something terribly wrong. The look made her lose some of her nerve as she quickly turned her gaze towards the ground. Gulping she clenched her fist at her side, figuring it was no better time to talk to him.

"Onee-chan! Fuji-senpai! Can I please talk to the both of you?" Kasumi manage to yell out, even though her stomach was filled with butterflies. Only reason why she called Syusuke to come to was because she was nervous of how her brother might react, and he did say that he would be there for her if she ever needed to get something off her chest and for some reason it comforted her. Both the third years nodded their heads as they walked over to where she was standing.

"Everyone keep practicing! Oishi you're in charge better not let anyone slack off! It they do make them run 5 laps around the field!" Kunimitsu yelled over his shoulder, as he exited the tennis courts. "Why aren't you in practice Kasumi?" He questioned. Syusuke walked behind his captain letting him some space; he wasn't sure if he should interfere or why Kasumi had called him along. Kasumi just kept looking down at her feet, hands behind her back.

"Let's go grab a soda, that way we can find a spot to talk in private unless you want everyone to know what was going on, especially with all the spys that we have crawling around this place." Sysuke stated as he placed a hand on the tennis captain's shoulder, trying to calm the situation. Both Tezukas nodded their heads, and started walking towards the soda machines with Kunimitsu leading the pack. After grabbing a drink out of the machine they found a table to sit at where there was less likely a chance that they would be over heard.

"Back to my question Kasumi, why are you not at practice?" Kunimitsu asked before taking a sip of his drink. Syusuke sipped on his drink slowly trying not to get in between the siblings. Kasumi was looking her brother in the eyes, playing with the tab of her soda not really thirsty.

"I quit that's why I'm not at practice Onee-chan." Kasumi paused for a moment biting her lip debating on how much she was willing to reveal to her older brother. Both Kunimitsu's and Syusuke's mouth dropped when she announced that she had quit the club. The pair quickly shut their mouths, trying to recover from the news. Kunimitsu opened his mouth to say something, but Kasumi raised her hand signaling that she was done speaking yet.

"Let me finish what I have to say Mitsu. You see there have been a lot of problems with the gymnastics club. Since last year the current third years have had a problem with me because I got picked to be team captain as a second year over any of them so that meant most of them already hated me prior to the beginning of this year. As you know, Mitsu, the coach has been getting onto my recently because I'm over his 'weight requirements' for the team. This started making some of the club members dislike me that even though I was over the weight limit I was still being seeding in the Top 6. Then the whole situation with that first year didn't help because it turned all of the first years against me. Long story short is everyone from my coach to the first years hates me in the club. Syusuke do you remember that day when I ran into you in the courtyard and you wanted to know what was bothering me?" Kasumi paused for a moment taking a deep breath. Syusuke nodded his head signaling that he remembered that day.

"Well that's when the bullying began. It wasn't anything big, just leaving hateful notes all over my locker saying hateful things like I shouldn't be captain, fat, princess, die, and rot in hell. Those sorts of hurtful things to get under someone's skin. They also took to soaking my school uniform in urine also. I figured that day I would just ignore it and try to still be kind hoping that I could possibly win over some of club members. Then small stuff started going missing from my locker during the practices, like my textbooks or uniform being hidden around the locker room. Right before the district meet, someone broke into my locker and stole my grips, I didn't realize that they had done that until I got to the meet and was preparing to get ready to do my bar routines. This caused me to sloppily wrap my wrist which consequently leads to me spraining it again. It probably didn't help that I didn't eat anything that day except for a banana that Sakura shoved down my throat. And we are now to today; I went into the locker room. Someone got the idea of taking some red pain telling me to 'die fatass' along with them taping a picture of me where they burned my eyes out, sewing my lips shut, and slitting my throat. I didn't mind the mental bullying but since it has taken a turn to physical bulling I didn't want to stay there. There is no need to put myself in that danger…." Kasumi continued to rattle.

Hearing the story made Syusuke's heart break; he didn't realize the trouble that she was going through. He had always noticed that his childhood friend's weight fluctuations and the anorexia habits she seemed to develop over the last few years but didn't think it was his place to comment on it. Kunimitsu still sat across the table glaring, but his eyes softened slightly. Ever since Kasumi had gotten into high school, he hated what she was going through it make it through the high school gym even though he would never say anything about it. He was torn between thinking his little sister needed to be tougher but remembering how difficult it was for him when he was being bullied.

"Kasumi, you really need to report what is going on in the club." Syusuke suggested which cause Kasumi to immediately start shaking her head.

"No, from now on you're going to be accompanied where ever you go by myself, Sakura, or whoever I deem appropriate in the Top 8 when neither one of us can be there." Kunimitsu stated his concern for his little sister evident.

"No, I can't do that. I'm sure me quitting has already made them real happy. I don't need to adding fuel to the fire by reporting them or having my brother constantly there to be my protection. They always thought I got where I was because of I'm Tezuka's little sister or Hinamori's best friend, even though I know it's not the case." Kasumi stated, still shaking her head at the thoughts that the two males were suggesting.

"Fine, I accept your decision for quitting the gymnastics club. But don't think now that you've quit gymnastics you're going to be able to hang out around these courts during your free period. I want you to go over to the female tennis club; you're going to be the manager. Fuji and I need to get back to practice and I suggest you hurry off I'm sure Sakura is going to have plenty of stuff for you to do." Kunimitsu stated, pushing himself away from the table signaling that the conversation was now over. Kasumi let out a small breath, figuring that everything had gone much better than expect. Walking away from the table, leaving the soda on the table completely forgotten about, she felt herself being pulled back into someone who was giving her a tight hug.

"Even though I wish you had told me sooner, but I'm glad you were finally able to open about what was really going on with you. Next time just don't let it get out as far as it did before you come talk to someone. I don't know what I would do if something were to happen Kas, so please try harder to take care of yourself okay?" He whispers to her. Kasumi could have felt like she felt some wetness on her cheek, but didn't pay much attention to it because as fast as he hugged her was the speed of which he was gone. Even though she had given into the bullies that morning she couldn't but help feel like a weight was lifted off her shoulders as she made her way to the female tennis courts.

The female tennis courts were eerily quiet for the time in the morning as Sakura was setting up different types of obstacles. She was thinking about how her team almost got knocked out in the district finals. After the tournament Sakura talked with Inui about some sort of training program that would help her players to get into better shape, and talking with Kunimitsu she came to find out it was a simpler workout routine and training schedule that the boys had prior to the district tournament. Once she had been told that she was tempted to make the training just what the boys club had gone through, but realized that her team wasn't up to the skill par the boys were, but she was going to try her damnest to get them to that point. While setting up three different colored cones on the court, she felt her phone vibrate in her practice outfit. Glancing at it she mainly just took in the words: he failed as a brother, Kasumi was now in the tennis club, and they would all discuss it later.

"Hey Sakura, Onee-chan sent me over here. I'm now your new club manager. Is there any way I can help you set anything up." Kasumi called out to Sakura as Sakura was glancing over the text message. Sakura couldn't help but shake the feeling that something weird had gone on, especially when she looked up at Kasumi and could tell that the girl had been crying some point earlier.

"Yeah, Mitsu just text messaged me saying you were now in the tennis club I only got a glance at it but it should be good to have you here. I need a second year to be a reserve, with my whole team quitting practically I was thinking of trying to convince him to let you come play for me every so often." Sakura stated trying to avoid the question that was burning on her tongue, _why was Kasumi here instead of at her own club_. "Well why don't you start bringing over the tennis balls, the ones I'm wanting are the ones that have their stries colored if you could do that for me please. And don't be lifting them with your right wrist; I know they're heavy so use both of your wrists." Kasumi just nodded her head and did what she was told. For the next few minutes the duo worked in silence, with Sakura occasionally giving orders for Kasumi to do something. With the extra help the obstacles were finished being set up several minutes to spare before the Top 8 regulars began to show up.

"I have an extra practice outfit in the tennis hut go put it on. We'll have to go shopping after school today to pick you up few tennis outfits and get you a jacket and actual school uniform." Sakura said, she figured if Kasumi was already there and was going to be the manager for now she could get Kasumi in shape to play full rounds of tennis matches. As Kasumi walked into the tennis hut, Sakura let out a sigh trying to figure out how she was going to pull this stunt off though was relieved for the simple reason she had someone there to help her with the paper work, which would take a lot of pressure off her for a little bit.

"I ran into one of the first years on my way over to the courts, Hayashi, said that Kimura won't be able to make it to practice. Supposedly Kimura's parents took her to the doctor yesterday after practice since she hadn't been feeling good the last few days and it seems like she has Mono. So we've lost another player for at least the next 6 weeks or more." Arisa's report snapped Sakura out of her thoughts. Without meaning to, a curse escaped Sakura's lips, this wasn't something that she needed at the moment even though Kimura was on the doubles team that had lost during the district tournament she was one of the only four that seemed to have chemistry to play doubles at the time. As if her prayers were answered Kasumi walked out onto the courts, which gave Sakura an idea.

"Neoko-chan, how well do you play doubles?" Sakura asked tapping her finger on her chin; she would have to give Kunimitsu a huge kiss if what she was planning worked because he sent her an angel.

"Umm I guess I'm okay, I haven't played doubles in a long time, guess you could say I haven't found the perfect partner when it comes to it." Arisa stuttered not sure where the captain was getting at. Sakura nodded debating on how to get Arisa and Kasumi ready to play doubles before the next tournament. She knew she had a break with the girls, she was sure that the pair would be willing to do anything to make Sakura proud.

"Kas! Get over here!" Sakura yelled, waving the second year over. Kasumi ran over to Sakura, and waved at Arisa, it was the first time they had seen each other since the incident with the first year.

"Kasumi you're now a part of the regulars in this club, it seems like I've got one out on illness for a while. Neoko-chan, I would like to introduce you to your new doubles partner. I'm going to rely on the both of you to train hard and sync with each other by the next tournament. I'm hoping the two of you will become a perfect team." Sakura smiled as she made the announcement, causing both second years to drop their jaws.

"Wait wouldn't it be better to play us in singles? So that way you have less of a chance of playing?" Kasumi asked, wondering what crazy thought was going through Sakura's head.

"No I want you playing doubles. You've got more experience playing doubles then singles. And I don't want to hear the excuse that you sometimes help single players warm up, all of these years when it comes to playing sets you're only used to playing doubles. Maybe once you have more conditioning to last a single set I might move you up to singles 2 and bring Neoko to singles 3. I just lost one of my doubles players and when it comes to anyone on the team the two of you have perfect match up, just think of Oishi and Eiji. Kasumi I want you playing the net, and Neoko, I want you playing the baseline." Sakura stated a sinister smile forming; thinking if she got these two where they needed to be that they could match the golden pair even possibly beat them.

"Now go line-up practice is going to start soon." Sakura waved the two off, praying that her crazy plan was going to work. Looking over at the other regulars they were all waiting in line waiting for her orders, it made her beam with pride on the inside even with everything that had happened during the school year thus far she had to admit that she had a dedicated team.

"I would like to introduce everyone to our newest regular, Tezuka Kasumi, since Kimura will be out for several weeks. Does anyone have any objections with this decision? She is new to our tennis club but if anyone remembers the first day she was the one that came and watched you on the first day, she's got plenty of experience with playing tennis; guess you could say it's a family thing." Sakura stopped for a moment, letting people speak up if they had some objections. She wanted everyone to honest, she didn't need her team resenting her for making the decision it would mean that the team wouldn't be able play to its fullest potential.

"If you do have objections please be honest, for our team to work we need to be able to work together and we can't work together if you don't accept her. If you don't believe me what I have to say about her skills you're more than welcome to challenge her, if you win then we'll hold another ranking tournament to put the best person on the team." No one said anything, Sakura didn't know if it was because they were too scared or if it was the fact that Kasumi's last name was Tezuka and they just assumed that she had to be good at tennis. It didn't matter to her though, she knew she was making the right decision for the team and Kasumi would be able to prove herself soon enough.

"Alright I have no objection, that's good. Now I'm sure all of you have noticed the different practice stations that I have out along with the big orange cooler. This past weekend we played well, obliviously since we are district champions right now but it wasn't good enough. I know this past tournament was probably most of yours biggest tournament but if we stay at the same level we are, than we are going to lose the next tournament. Hell even in the district championship match you should have been able to win 3 out of the 4 sets to where I didn't have to go out and play. So starting today, welcome to camp hell! I'm going exploit your weakness, and make them into strengths along with strengthen your strengths! I'm going to make you into top notch players so that we can make to Nationals! If you are offended or allergic to hard work quit now, I'm not going to pour everything I have to make you better to spit back in my face, you got me?!" Sakura tried to mix the good with the bad, but she wasn't going to lie about what her plans were for her team. She was grateful that one again no one stepped forward.

"Alright to start this morning practice off, we are going to start off with a nice brisk run. Whoever finishes last will have to drink the mysterious juice inside the cooler." Sakura stated, though for everyone that was there didn't seem to care if they had to drink the juice except for Kasumi who had a questioning brow.

"That wouldn't be Inui's vegetable juice is it, Hinamori-senpai?" Kasumi asked, now she rather knew the answer then be tricked into the juice.

"It is." Sakura stated, almost laughing at the site of Kasumi turning a slight shade of green just thinking about having to drink the vegetable juice. This cause the rest of the team's interest to be sparked, to where Kasumi just mouthed it wasn't something that anyone wanted to drink the juice since it would make them sick.

"Alright enough with the jibber-jabber let's start the run. I want everyone to run 20 laps around the field, you have 45 seconds to finish the lap or else you're considered out and will have to drink the juice then too. On my whistle we will begin." She figured since Kasumi had made everyone fear the juice, they would have the motivation to complete the task. She encouraged everyone to get lined up on the line of the sidewalk that went around the courts, making sure that no one had a head start on another person.

She slowly brought the small silver whistle up to her lips, watching just to see whose reflexes where the fastest, who would start just from anxiety of the start, and who had some of the slower reflexes. Luckily for her, no-one was over excited that they started the race prior to her blowing the whistle. Though when she blew the whistle she noticed that Kasumi and Aya Suzuki were the first ones to take off, but it was only at max a second and half head start, with the team were right on their heels. Sakura wasn't going to participate in this run, since she had completed it only the day before with Kunimitsu curious to see if it was an impossible thing to do. She kept an eye the stops watch in her right hand, she wasn't going to let anyone slip through the cracks.

Sakura couldn't but feel impressed with the first 5 laps everyone was making the time limit with ease it wasn't until after that people started hovering towards the forty-five second mark but everyone kept pretty well together in the race, even Kasumi who hadn't been conditioned in running though Sakura just assumed it was the fear of having to drink Inui's drink that caused the second year to keep going. Arisa was leading the pack at the moment, but realized that Kasumi was lagging behind and slowed her paced until Kasumi waved her on, signaling that she would somehow manage to catch up. Another five laps passed Sakura was surprised that no one still had fallen below the time constraint and seemed like her team was getting their second wind.

"Ten more laps! You all can do this!" Sakura yelled encouraging her teammates, who all seemed to equal out in their running. Everyone was in the same rhythm and same paced as everyone else. At the moment it didn't matter to them about first place, they would worry about it when it came to the final lap. At the moment to Sakura it seemed like at this time it was just focusing on all of them making the time limit, if one of them failed then they all failed. The next nine laps slower than the first, but she could see everyone was dripping sweat and looked exhausted but was pushing themselves to finish the task, which made Sakura very proud and made her think maybe just maybe she could whip everyone into the shape they needed to be to make it to nationals.

"LAST LAP! LET'S MAKE THIS INTERESTING! THE ONLY ONE THAT GETS OUT OF DRINKING INUI"S VEGETABLE JUICE IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN FIRST PLACE!" Sakura yelled, throwing in a curve ball seeing how her team would react. The last lap her team acted like they were in a sprint race, except for Kasumi who had once again fallen to the back of the pack, though Sakura had a feeling that Kasumi wasn't going to come in last place not with the bag of tricks that she had. The last 25 meters of the race, the second year started doing front hand-springs, which were faster than her running causing everyone to come across the finish line all at the same time.

"Good job everyone, none of you have to drink the juice. Now take a 5 minute break and grab a drink. Don't just stop moving you're going to cramp up if you do." Sakura stated as she wrapped her arms around several of the girls. Even though they had completed one of the events for the morning Sakura wasn't done pushing them to their limits just yet that morning, because for her this was her last chance to make it to Nationals and she wasn't going to let it slip through her fingertips.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

The sun was setting in the horizon as Kunimitsu lit candles throughout the living room and dining room in the small house that he shared with Sakura and Kasumi. He looked around on the floor, checking the pattern of which he strewed the silk rose petals all over the floors. After making sure that everything was up to his expectations with the décor, he went into the kitchen checking on the food that Kasumi was preparing. He would have probably made sure that Kasumi was already out of the house, if he didn't need to feed his long-time girlfriend. Kasumi raised an eyebrow when he came into the kitchen checking on her, she could tell that he was feeling nervous this evening.

"Don't worry, Mitsu after I finish fixing dinner and cleaning up the kitchen I'm going to leave. Why don't you go get ready and set out the clothes we got Sakura out on the bed. And don't be nervous Onee-chan, everything is going to go perfectly I promise." Kasumi said as she pressed her older brother out of the kitchen and towards Sakura's and his's bedroom.

"I'm not worried Kas, I'm just a perfectionist. I want everything to go perfectly." He grumbled as he walked to the bedroom. Once he closed the door he let out a long breath trying to calm the nervous that he stated he didn't have. Feeling more confident with getting setting out stuff for Sakura before trying to get himself ready for what he was doing that evening. He pulled out Sakura's favorite black stiletto heels and put them at the foot of the bed, and then he went to closet and grabbed a strapless black dress that Kasumi had helped him pick out earlier that afternoon. He stopped for a moment, trying to remember what jewelry his little sister told him to put out. He was curious why girls had so many pieces to make an outfit, until he finally gave up trying to remember what jewelry to pick out deciding it was just best to let Sakura picking out her own jewelry.

Taking several moments to breath as he looked through his closet trying to figure out what he wanted to where that evening. He decided on a pair of black slacks and a lavender colored button down shirt that always seemed to accent his dark brown eyes and paired them with a pair of black dress shoes. He quickly dressed and looked in the mirror to see if it fit his expectations for the night. A quick knock on the bedroom door, and the click notified Kunimitsu that Kasumi had poked her head into the bedroom.

"Alright, dinner is finished. I've plated the entrée it's in the kitchen which you'll wait till Sakura is back here getting changed into that wonderful outfit. Also while she is changing you'll want to dress the salad then that should be about the time that bread can come out of the oven. I left you a basket with a towel in it, put the bread in that." Kasumi stated as she looked at her older brother and looking at the outfit that he pulled out.

"Speaking of Sakura's outfit remember you want to pull out the crystal stud earrings. You look really handsome, onee-chan. Everything is going to go fine, you had me help you with every step of the way especially with the food. Go ahead and put the box in your pocket so that way you don't forget it." Kasumi said as she walked into the room and gave her older brother a big hug, which Kunimitsu returned.

"Thank you so much for your help this afternoon Kas, I greatly appreciate it. How many more minutes do you think I have before she gets home?"

"With all of the errands that I got her to run in the goose chase you have maybe at max three or four minutes, so that means I need to disappear. Text me later to let me know how it goes this evening. I'll see you two tomorrow morning." Kasumi stated before giving her brother a kiss on the cheek. She rushed out of the room, grabbed her bag out of the hallway and dashed out the door leaving Kunimitsu standing in the room. He grabbed the white jewelry box putting it in his pocket, and then pulled the stud crystal earrings that Kasumi reminded him about and put them on the black strapless dress. The next few minutes passed so quickly that he didn't realize they had passed, as the front door opened and closed again.

"Hello?" He heard Sakura's voice travel through the hallway. Taking a few deep breaths Kunimitsu walked into the hallway and into the living room. Even though he missed her initial reaction, he could still see the shock surprised look on her face. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

"Welcome home. I figured I would do something nice for you tonight since you've been having such a rough school year thus far." Kunimitsu stated as he grabbed Sakura's hand.

"It's gotten slightly easier since you've allowed Kasumi to go to the tennis club and are allowing her to play. Speaking of her, where is she?" Sakura questioned as she looked around for her best friend.

"She's staying with Arisa tonight. I figured that since you want them to become the next golden pair they could at least spend as much time as they can before the tournament."

"Not the next golden pair, it's just the golden pair gave me the idea for them. I'm actually hoping they'll be better than your golden pair." Sakura interjected into the conversation, though from what she has seen in practice she was beginning to think that she might have made the wrong decision.

"Well back onto topic. I have some rules for tonight, no talking about tennis or school. Now why don't you go back into the bedroom and change while I finish up in the kitchen." He said as he pushed her towards the bedroom.

"Fine just as long as you don't bring up how you think you've been failing as a brother." She said as she gave him a questioning brow as she walked towards the bedroom, really curious on what he had planned that evening for the both of them. Walking into the kitchen he started on the quick list of instructions that Kasumi had left for him to do. First he tossed the salad with the dressing that she had left on counter. Grabbing the salad bowl and the plate that the entrée was on, he walked into the dining room and setting them up on the table noticing that Kasumi had only put enough on the entrée plate for Sakura and Kunimitsu to have without any extra plates on the table. But he figured Kasumi had her reason because at the table she removed all the areas to sit except for on one side where two candles where in the center two white candles sat in the center giving the perfect glow on the table.

He had just got done setting the two items on the table; Sakura was walking out of the bedroom into the hallway. He caught a quick glance at her out of the corner of his eyes, and let his jaw drop. When he and Kasumi had been shopping earlier that afternoon, he hadn't been so sure but his little sister insisted that it would fit perfectly on Sakura and it would be gorgeous on her and she was right about it. The strapless dress hem stopped an inch above her knees and curved perfectly on Sakura's body, which didn't make her seem gorgeous but drop dead gorgeous.

"Do you like what you see Mitsu?" Sakura asked as she walked up to him resting her hand on his chest and swished her red and brown hair to where it landed behind her giving him a full view of the front of the dress. The heels enhanced the look and her legs at the same time. All he could do was close his mouth and nod. Grabbing her hand off his chest he spun her around in his arms trying to get a good look at the back of the dress.

"Well I hope you're hungry. Kasumi before she left after she fixed us dinner, so you know I didn't cook." Kunimitsu asked as he led her to where they would be sitting that evening. Sakura nodded as she sat down, him following. She noticed that there was only one plate for the spaghetti on the table but two bowls for the salad that was fixed.

"Umm…Why is there only on plate?" Sakura pointed to the food, trying to clarify what she was talking about.

"Who knows, its Kas. Knowing her she probably saw it in a movie and thought it would be cute. Hope you don't mind the change up she found this recipe on a classic Italian website and decided to give it a shot." He responded as he put salad on in the bowls. They ate in silence for the next couple of minutes; Kunimitsu fingered the box in his pocket. Once they were finished with the salad they began on the main entrée. Taking the first bite, he came to decided that it wasn't bad.

"Wow, Kas really out did herself." Sakura stated after taking her first bite. After a few minutes she started smelling something that seemed like it burning.

"Is there anything in the oven Mitsu?" Sakura questioned, and had to hold back the laugh as the smell registered with Kunimitsu as he jumped up and ran into the kitchen. He cursed as he opened the door to the oven, finding out he had forgotten all about the bread whenever Sakura walked out into the hallway. He tried grabbing the hot cookie sheet by hand and quickly realized that he made a big mistake and let out another loud curse.

"Do you need some help in there?" Sakura yelled out, worried that Kunimitsu was hurting himself.

"No it's fine. You just continue to eat I'll be in there in a minute." He responded as he grabbed a tea towel off the counter and grabbed the bread out of the over. It was burnt to a black crisp. Shaking his head, he threw it in the trash knowing that it wouldn't be eaten.

"Sorry, it looks like I was so stunned by your beauty I forgot about the bread." He muttered as he sat down at the table. The rest of dinner passed with mostly with small chatter and inside jokes that the two shared. All too soon it seemed like there was only two bites left of the food. They decided to take them at the same time noticing that there was a noodle that connected their forks. Putting the forks in their mouths they slurped on the noodle until their lips were only a half inch apart. Kunimitsu leaned forward connecting their mouths into a breath-taking closed mouth kiss. Sakura was surprised after how long they had been together, people thought they would have lost their spark by now but no not for her every time they kissed a spark lite between them.

"Sakura can I get you to stand up please?" Kunimitsu asked as he offered her a hand to get up, but he stayed on the floor, he went into a kneeling position. Sakura started trembling when he pulled a ring box out of his pocket; she sucked in a deep breath of air. He flipped open the box, and much to her surprise which took her much strength not to push him over on his back, was a white gold ring with a jade diamond shaped jewel in the center. She didn't know if she was pissed or thankful, and the mixed look wasn't passed on him.

"Do you not like it? I thought I would surprise you with this promise ring to let you know that I do plan on spending the rest of my life with you. It's just I want to wait until after we're done with high school and college, then we'll get married. I just wanted to let you know that I'm committed to you. Now Sakura are you going to accept my commitment to you?" He asked as he grabbed her right hand and pulled the ring out of the box. Once it dawned on her what the ring really was and what he said she couldn't stop shaking her head.

"Of course you idiot." She said as he slipped the ring on her finger. Her knees buckled underneath her, which caused her to fall into him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into an open mouthed kiss. He felt like the happiest man in that very moment.

The day was a perfect day for photography; Syusuke thought to himself, walking through the park it was partly sunny with a small amount of wind. Looking forward he noticed a site, that nearly took his breath away each time he saw it. Kasumi was sitting on a bench reading; her legs crossed, wearing her school uniform and her glasses [I changed the school uniform for second years and up to be a dark green skirt and white polo shirt and some black flats for shoes just FYI]. He pulled his camera up ready to snap a photo, when the wind started to blow causing her loose light brown hair to fly in her face. He took the shot, as she lowered her book some to use one of her hands to push some of the hair of her face so she could read. Looking at the photo he thought to himself that it couldn't have been a more perfect shot.

"Syusuke, aren't there better things to take pictures of?" Kasumi said, in a sweet tone her cheeks slightly pink. Syusuke smiled, guessing he was caught in the act, which also caused him to blush. Walking over to the bench, he took a seat next to her figuring that she wouldn't mind.

"Not when I get to take pictures of one of my favorite muses. Would you like to see the photo?" He was trying to flirt even though he was guessing he was doing a horrible job. He had tried flirting with her for so long, but she never seemed to catch on what he was doing. Kasumi blushed more as she shook her head no.

"Hey would you like to go grab a coffee with me?" He asked, giving her one of his famous smiles. He knew that technically she wasn't allowed to date, but what was the fun in life if you didn't do something risky to get what you wanted. She thought about it for a moment before she nodded her head. He grabbed her hand as they stood up, leading the way to the coffee shop that was closest. As they walked they made small talk about the old times when they used to hang out quite frequently, letting their arms swing in motion with their steps. They were so focused on the other, that they didn't realize that they had passed Kikumaru Eiji and Takeshi Momoshiro walking out of store. They both rubbed their eyes, trying to figure out if they were seeing things.

"Momo, did you just see Fuji and Baby-girl walk by holding hands?" Kikumaru questioned, watching where the other pair was walking to. He was curious what his classmate and the captain's little sister where thinking and if they even cared if they invoked the anger of the captain.

"You don't think they're on date do you Eiji-senpai?" Takeshi asked, curious though he was certain since he was in the same class as Kasumi would be able to get a story from her tomorrow.

"If they are, Fuji is a dead man. All except for maybe Baby-boy and the other first years know it's just better not to look at Baby-girl. Come on Momo we're following." Kikumaru stated as he grabbed Takeshi's hand dragging him behind him.

"I don't know Eiji-senpai. You've never seen Tezuka mad, it can be right up there with Tezuka-senpai scary or even Hinamori-senpai scary." He said trying to put his feet down to where the momentum would stop but it wasn't enough to stop the third year.

Syusuke and Kasumi walked into the coffee shop. Looking around she noticed that there wasn't anyone from the tennis club there, which she let a sign of relief. She knew that her brother would flip his lip if he found out that even though it was improtu type thing, if he got wind that she was on a possible date.

"Don't worry, there probably won't be anyone here we know from tennis I come here often and I've never seen anyone else here before. Order anything you want, Kasumi, it's on me." He said as he headed towards the line. Kasumi followed looking up at the board trying to decide what she wanted to drink. They stood in line for several minutes before it was their turn to order drinks. Kikumaru and Takeshi, peered through the window trying not to get so close that Syusuke and Kasumi wouldn't know that they were being followed.

"I'll take a venti espresso macchiato and whatever she would like." Syusuke ordered, stepping aside to let Kasumi order.

"I'll have a caramel macchiato with hazelnut please." Kasumi ordered. Syusuke paid before they headed off trying to find a place to sit. It took a few minutes and the coffees were ready, which Syusuke fetched and brought back to the table. Once they were sat, Kikumaru and Takeshi went into the coffee shop and ordered themselves some drinks before heading to a table that was adjacent to where the other pair where sitting, were they could listen into the conversation but not been seen.

"Are you still being bullied, now that you've quit the gymnastics team?" Syusuke asked as he took a sip of his coffee. Takeshi and Kikumaru looked at each other confused, neither one knew that she was being bullied curious to why it was being hidden and when she had quit the gymnastic club.

"No, actually once I quit the gymnastics club it's stopped. I guess they got what they wanted so they're leaving me alone. The only problem I have now it seems like is that one little first year that I accidently wacked with a ball. But I was able to shut her up." Kasumi replied, as she drank some of her coffee, worrying about rambling. The comment made Syusuke raise a brow; he was beginning to see the old Kasumi that he remembers playing with as a child and he like it. It just made him wish that she would have let everyone in sooner about the bullying that was going on in the gymnastics club.

"Now how did a sweet little person like you get that first year off your tail? You normally don't do anything mean unless your hand has been forced." He said leaning in closer.

"I wouldn't say she's off my tail, I just shut her up. When Sakura brought me into the females tennis club she let anyone who felt like I wasn't good enough to be a regular without trying out to challenge me. Well the first year decided she would challenge me, I beat her 6-0 in a one set match." She leaned in about an inch, curious to what he was thinking.

"Oh so you're officially playing for Sakura now?" He asked, curious to what Sakura had planned for his date. Once again Kikumaru and Takeshi gave each other curious looks, wondering when she had joined the tennis club.

"She has me and Arisa playing doubles together. I think she thinks we are going to be the next golden pair, though I'm not too sure about that. I just don't have the same attitude like Eiji-senpai, sure I'm an acrobatic player but I prefer the cat and mouse game like you do. Arisa is okay, she's more aggressive than I am." Kasumi replied, before taking another sip of her coffee. He grabbed her hand, just out of spur of the moment it felt right to him. Kikumaru couldn't help but to get upset some finding out that Sakura was trying to get a better team put together him and Oishi.

"Maybe you two just need to switch positions?" He suggested, trying to provide her with a different option for what she could to make playing doubles better. She nodded her head, as she looked like she was thinking it over what he said.

"Kas, I'm going to tell you something. I just want you to know and see where you stand. I really like you a lot, I have for years. I know you're not allowed to date, but I can't deny the feelings that I have for you." Syusuke said as his eyes opened, looking directly into Kasumi's eyes. He could read the surprise on her face, but she didn't see repulsed by his statement which he took as a good thing. A huge smile spread across her face.

"Syusuke, you're not pulling my leg are you?" She asked as she pinched herself. Syusuke shook his head, signaling that it wasn't a dream.

"Kasumi, remember when you would come over for play dates, and we would play house. You know how we always played mom and dad and Yuta always played our kid? At the time, I didn't think much of it but as I grew older I realized that one day I would like to be married to you." He stated, his blue eyes shining in the light. Kikumaru and Takeshi couldn't help but to let their jaws drop from the shock of hearing Syusuke say that he actually care for someone instead of see them suffer.

"I've had the hugest crush on you, Syusuke, for years. I just figured since we have been friends for such a long time that you wouldn't ever look at me more than the 5 year old that you would have to walk home." Syusuke smiled at her as he leaned closer towards the second year. Kikamura and Takeshi shared a scared expression.

"Are they about to do what I think they're going to do?" Takeshi whispered.

"I think so. I've got to stop them, or else Tezuka is going to kill Syusuke. What would we do without the genius?" Kikumaru asked he stood up. He took several steps back, pretended like he tripped losing grip on his coffee cup which landed right on top of Kasumi's head when hers and Syusuke's lips were mere centimeters apart. She let out a screech as the coffee landed on her head and the coffee started gushing down from the top of her head, through her hair onto her white polo shirt. Instincts kicked in and she quickly wrapped her arms around her chest as she and Syusuke looked around trying to figure out who spilled the coffee.

Kikamura and Takeshi wish they could have died in that moment, when the both of them glared at the other pair. It caused them to begin to shake.

"Lets go Eiji-senpai. Tezuka won't chase after us, at least not right now. Not unless she wants to flash everyone!" Takeshi yelled, running towards betting on his luck hoping that he was right. Kikumaru followed suit, while Syusuke looked towards Kasumi trying to figure out what Takeshi was talking about. He decided that he would take care of Kikumaru and Takeshi tomorrow as he shrugged off his black uniform jacket handing it over to Kasumi.

"Here put this on Kasumi, let me walk you home."

"Thank Syusuke. I think I could use a shower now." Kasumi said as she put on his jacket, grateful that she didn't have to walk around with her arms around her chest. He held his hand out waiting to see if she would take it or not. She put her hand in his, putting her fingers in between his giving his hand a small squeeze. She shot him a smile as she looked up at him, curious to what they were now.

"Come on, let's go." He said as they walked out of coffee shop. He didn't want the afternoon to end, but since she was covered in coffee there wasn't much of an option. They kept quiet not really talking both taking in all of the events that had happened that afternoon. He thought about making the picture he snapped of her earlier, grateful that he did at the time because he was sure that he wouldn't be able to get a picture of her now. He made sure that were walking close, where it seemed like both of their shoulders were touching the whole time to her house. They had both really enjoyed each other's company prior to this afternoon but they seemed to enjoy it much more now that their feelings for one another were returned.

"Thanks for walking me home, Syusuke. I'll wash your jacket tonight so that way I can return it to you tomorrow. Before you go, I have a question for you, what are we now?" Kasumi stuttered slightly as she looked down at their shoes. Syusuke put his right hand under her chin, lifting her face up to where they were looking at each other.

"Well I was hoping you would be my girlfriend." He stated his bright blue eyes sucking her in.

"I think I would like to be your girlfriend." She responded.

"Good." He said as he leaned in, trying for the second time to kiss her. She transitioned onto her tiptoes bringing herself closer to him. Their lips connected, Kasumi could feel fireworks going off in her head and heart. They pulled apart when the door was open; they turned towards the door to see Kunimitsu standing in the door way glaring at them both.

"Both of you inside now." He stated his voice monotone, but looking closely Kasumi could see a small vein bulging in the right corner temple. Keeping a hold of Syusuke's hand she led him inside, not willing to back down from her older brother. Syusuke at that moment was grateful he had recruited back up several weeks prior because he wasn't willing to back down to his captain. A smile sprawled across his face excited to see how things would play out and where they would go from there, though no matter what he was just happy Kasumi was part his now.


End file.
